Fanfic: Nemesis Theory: Chapter #20
Title: Nemesis Theory, Chapter #20
Authors: Raggedpelt and Yami Neko Tsuki
Summary: Just the next chapter of Nemesis Theory. Contains a smexy dream, at least one argument, and one very cranky cat.
Wordcount: 2,291
Rating: This particular chapter is rated R. Rating of overall story will range from PG to NC-17.
Other notes: Most of Galaria's dialogue in this chapter was written by Yami Neko Tsuki.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter #1: Whiskered Evil
Chapter #2: Milk and the Third Degree
Chapter #3: Said Too Soon
Chapter #4: The Offer
Chapter #5: Rust
Chapter #6: Little Lab of Horrors
Chapter #7: The Junkyard
Chapter #8: Friends In Low Places
Chapter #9: All That Glitters
Chapter #10: Blind Date
Chapter #11: Barbs (NSFW!!)
Chapter #12: Responsibility
Chapter #13: Sideways
Chapter #14: Not About Revenge
Chapter #15: Magnets, How Do They Work?
Chapter #16: Dr. Pepper and UFO's
Chapter #17: Home Invasion
Chapter #18: The Red Scarf
Chapter #19: Brainbot 505
****
How do I get myself into messes like this? Megamind groaned internally as he looked at Galaria. She was wearing a sleek, form-fitting red dress that described every curve of her body in flawless detail. He was in love with Roxanne, and only Roxanne, but the way "Gala" looked right now was sending his hearts pounding out of sequence with one another. Most likely the result of some bothersome little instinct he had been hard-wired with.
"Really, now?" she said in a purring tone, responding to something he didn't recall saying.
He did his best to give a coherent reply. "Well, um.. that is.. I... um..."
Galaria giggled, pressing one finger to his lips, "Shhhh." That gesture was entirely too intimate, it was appalling, it was out of line--and it made him squirm a little in his sheath. He could feel his face flushing as she looked at him with those burning orange eyes. "Come on, it's not like you need to tell her."
Megamind shut his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of himself, "N-no."
She leaned in, pressing herself up against him. "That would be a lot more convincing if you were actually looking at me." The feel of her warm body against his sent a shudder through him, and he could feel his barbs twitch a bit. It almost felt like she was radiating heat as she pushed him back against the wall.
He could not retreat any further away, so he settled for merely turning his head away, "By.. by being involved with me, Roxie has chosen to ignore all the males of her own species that are readily available. How do you think she would feel if I were unfaithful with the first female of my kind I came across?"
Galaria ran one slender finger along his jaw line, then softly breathed, "You're still not looking at me," in his ear. The touch of her finger sent a shiver through his whole body.
"Th-that has no bearing on the val-y-ditty of my argument," he mumbled, swallowing hard, and trying to think (though he suspected his body had started routing the blood out of his brain and into an entirely different organ.)
She nuzzled his neck, leaving burning kisses behind, "It sounds more like you're trying to convince yourself than actually saying no."
He let out a small, distressed laugh, "It would be more accurate to say that right now I'm having a rather violent disagreement with my, uh, biological imperatives."
Galaria used the soft palm of her hand to tilt his head back towards her, and gave him a warm smile that made his hearts pound even harder, "You don't need to disagree, and she doesn't need to know."
"I would know."
She just leaned in for a kiss…
…and Megamind abruptly awoke, slumped back in the chair at his planning wall. Ugh, what had just happened!? Clearing the sleep from his eyes with a quick flick of his nictating membrane, he glanced around nervously to make sure everything was in order. No, no sign of her anywhere, just the calm darkness of the lair. Even the fishtank was dark at the moment, save for the flickering glow of Minion's bioluminescent bulbs as he hunted his smaller tank mates.
"Sir? Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just, uh, had a nightmare."
"About what?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with!"
Minion shrank back at that, giving him a reproachful look. Megamind just sighed and got up; maybe a quick walk around the darkened lair would help clear his mind.
Obviously, the situation wasn't a good one. Sure, Galaria hadn't actually tried anything yet, but with his devilishly good looks and natural charm, it was only a matter of time before she tried to give in to her baser instincts, and what then? Furthermore, her mere presence had put a bit of a strain on his relationship with Roxanne. It was hard to date when he couldn't leave the lair. Who knows what Galaria might break or disassemble if he left for any real length of time.
She had to go.
****
Sassy cuddled against Roxanne's leg, dozing contentedly as her mistress slept. She was warm, she was safe, and her belly was full. This was truly the life. The grey tabby rasped her rough tongue across a forepaw, then dragged it across her ear. It was all she could do to keep the rumbling purr in her throat to a dull roar so it wouldn't wake Roxie.
She heard the door creak, and sat up to look to see what it was; the stupid Brainbot was peering into the bedroom, a stupid worried look on its stupid eye. "Go away!" she hissed, the fur along her spine lifting ever so slightly, "It took me half an hour to get her to go to sleep, and you're gonna wake her up!"
However, it still didn't leave. Just made a "come here" gesture with one of its graspers, and drifted out of the room. With a low growl, Sassy got up to follow it. Stupid Brainbot, interrupting her when she was OBVIOUSLY very busy. But as it opened the balcony door for her, she heard a voice that sent every fur in her pelt standing on end and made her heart race with cold, sick fear.
"Here kitty kitty kitty!" a cloying voice called. Its source was clearly far away, perhaps down in the alley below. She didn't look, though. She didn't want to look. Shaking all over, she turned and sprinted back into the apartment, tucking herself away under the couch again.
Stupid Brainbot. Now she wouldn't be able to sleep at ALL tonight.
****
"If I leave, and you're not with me, things will be a lot worse for you," Galaria snarled, every bit of her tone and line in her face a threat. Even her posture had turned hostile, and her copper eyes had turned much harder than Megamind could ever recall having seen them.
"I'm staying here," he responded, narrowing his eyes, "And that's the end of it."
"Think about it for a moment, Sarinth-"
"-That's not my name-"
"What's the only thing keeping you here? And would you really still want to stay if that was gone?"
Megamind just shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, "This planet is my home. How can that be so hard for you to understand?"
"And you don't belong here, you never have and you never will. How can that be so hard for you to understand?"
A pang ran though him at that, though he did his best to hide the fact that she had just hit a nerve. A rather cowardly, underhanded blow if he did say so himself. He just wouldn't acknowledge it at all, "I'm staying here. I'm staying here. I'm staying here. Do I have to say it a million times!? Besides," he turned his back to her, folding his arms in front of his chest, "You were all getting along fine without me for the three decades I've been gone!"
"Not so much. I wasn't kidding when I said your family was really important." He just shot her a look over his shoulder, intrigued despite himself. Gala had gone from looking threatening back to looking cute and in-over-her-head, "Look, just come, please? We really need you."
"This place needs me too."
"Honestly? I'm not really sure, it just seems like the police force is making you do all their work."
That caught him off guard. How on earth would she know that? He hadn't given her any details, and she never bothered to acknowledge Minion beyond thinking his suit was neat.
"Hey, I did some research before I came here. I'm not going to a strange planet without knowing something about it," she gave him an appeasing grin, "Plus I kinda borrowed your disguise watch and went to that museum."
Megamind narrowed his eyes in his most evil of scowls, and it was enough to make her take a step back, "I believe the term you're looking for is 'stole'. Saying you 'borrowed it' implies consent."
"Look, you could probably end a civil war, but obviously you only care about this miserable little mudball of a planet and that… that… furry little creature you're dating!"
That was enough. That was more than enough. "I expect you to be gone by this time tomorrow."
****
"Pleasse don't take it sso hard, Misss," Servant said in a soothing tone, "It'ss likely nothing you did wrong."
"Oh, I'm not mad at myself, Servant," Galatea replied hotly as she set the coordinates.
"Don't allow yoursself to be sso affected by hiss lack of tact. He wass raissed in a prisson, after all. Sssome of the recordss I found..."
Her mistress just wrinkled her nose, "It can't be that bad. He's fine."
"He sspent the vasst majoriety of hiss time in issolation. I even found a record of them taking hiss minion away, for a time when he was young."
That was enough to give her pause. Gala didn't answer, just had a shocked look.
"Obviousssly he managed to ssurvive it."
The coordinates set, Galaria slumped back into her seat, heaving a huge sigh, "So, now what do we do? Summon the guards to come and physically force him to go back? We'd lose control of the whole situation then."
"You know, Misss, it'ss not exsactly him we need, jussst one of the royal bloodline."
"I know, but that's not as easy as it sounds!"
Servant smiled, coiling up in her lady's lap, " Actually, if you play your cardsss well, I sssee a path that could lead you to even greater power."
Galaria rolled her eyes, "That sounds like a lot of work, and I'm already boss of the whole council when I want to be."
"Trussst me. My advicce hasss ssserved you well in the passt, hass it not?"
"Okay, what were you thinking?"
"Well, the heir needsss to be ressstored to the throne, yess?"
"Yes....but he made it pretty clear he isn't interested," Galaria replied, picking a bit of lint off of her leg. Servant bit back an annoyed hiss. Why could this girl never pay proper attention to her?
"He isss needed becausse he isss the lasst of hiss bloodline. Well, the lasst with any purity to it, anyway. However, if he were to have offsspring..."
"He's not interested in that either," Galaria practically snarled, "The dream just made him kick us off the planet. And I can't bring back some half-alien freak."
"Appeal to hisss ssselfisshnesss. Paint it asss a busssinessss proposssition. Oncce the baby isss born, he getsss to 'mysssteriousssly vanisssh', leaving it asss the heir. ...And you asss itssss guardian." Servant knew she was hissing entirely too much, both from the tingling of her tongue and the annoyed look Galaria shot her, but she couldn't help it. Speaking was much more difficult when she was excited about an idea.
Galaria considered this for a long moment before speaking. Of course, hardly a shock to Servant, the first thing she did was ask an idiotic question, "Think I should wait some before asking him? He was pretty upset."
Mustn't hiss, mustn't raise her voice, mustn't scold. Servant waited to be sure she had a good grasp on her own tone before replying, "Of courssse, you're right. How clever of you to think of that. Actually, It might be bessst, too, to asssk on the heelsss of sssome, ssshall we ssay, trauma? Like if, for exsample, two moon-cyclesss from now, hisss "mate" were to callousssly and heartlessssly reject him..."
"But why would she-? . . . Oh. Oh. I get it. Wow, this is the best idea I've ever had. Good work, Servant."
"Thank you, Misss. I live only to pleasse you. Now, if you'd let me have a quick word with hiss fissh before we go, I'll be right back."
****
"Minion, is everything ready?" Megamind asked, checking his appearance in the mirror. Somehow, neither one of them had gotten around to replacing the broken one, but it still served its purpose well enough.
"Yes, sir, everything's ready," Minion replied from the tank. A few days had passed since Galaria had taken her servant and left, and Megamind had spent that time obsessively checking over the lab, looking for any sort of spying device she might have left behind. The snake had told Minion they might be back to "check in" on Megamind in two or three months. Not something he had been happy about, but at least it would give him an opportunity to think of some more questions.
"You're back in the tank already? I need you to stay out and keep an eye on the Brainbots while I'm gone!"
"I can watch them from in here!" he replied, whining without meaning to. For some reason, he just really didn't want to leave the tank. Heck, he didn't even want to leave the castle. What if the other fish got to close to it!? If asked, he really had no idea why he cared, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was important.
"You need to be out in case #615 puts #408 in the microwave again. If you're in the tank, you can't even see the kitchen, let alone stop him. I also need you to have lunch ready for when we get back!" Megamind said, folding his arms, "So come out of there like a good Minion. Roxanne is going to be here any minute."
Feeling more mutinous than he could ever remember feeling before, Minion grudgingly did as he was told.
Chapter #21: Three Hundred (NSFW!)
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