Expect the Unexpected, Chapter Six, part two
Title: Expect the Unexpected, chapter six, part two
Author: sevandor (Sevandor1 on fanfiction.net)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: On the day of Titan/Tighten’s defeat, Roxanne Ritchi learns that “predictable” isn’t always what you expect.
Chapter Six, part two: In which Megamind begins to have some weird misgivings about destiny....
Chapter One: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/348523.html
Chapter Two: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/358346.html
Chapter Three: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/365427.html#cutid1
Chapter Four, part one: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/375649.html#cutid1
Chapter Four, part two: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/376059.html
Chapter Five: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/384329.html
Chapter Six, part one: community.livejournal.com/megamind_movie/396038.html
This was most definitely a new and vaguely disconcerting experience for Megamind, for several reasons. For one, the last time he'd been this close to a female had been when he was six, and Jenny Osgood had tried to take chunks out of his forearm with her sharp little teeth during his abortive attempt to attend a normal school. For another, though he was used to tending injuries, few had ever been this severe, and all had been his own, treated with the help of Minion. Oh, he knew how to tell what was wrong and what to do about it, but it felt very, very strange to be the one administering aid, especially after being the one to take down the attackers. It felt peculiarly... good, and all his years of struggling to attain supervillain status screamed that this was just wrong. But...well. He'd gone and done it because Blade and the other punks deserved it, and worse. That had also felt good, showing them that he was not the seventy-eight pound weakling that he appeared to be, and he was more comfortable accepting that justification for his decidedly non-villainous actions. Saving this girl - that had been an unavoidable side-effect. Right. Excellent cover, he'd stick with it.
Of course, his excuse didn't quite account for his earnest promises not to harm her, but... well, he may have been a villain, but he was also a gentleman. Behaving like a cad under the circumstances just wasn't done. There was no need to be uncivilized about it, after all, which was also why he'd wrapped her in his cape. Common courtesy, another superb excuse.
And the circumstances were horrifying. Megamind knew far too much about Blade for his own comfort, about the things that were capable of putting a smile on the executioner's face. He enjoyed his job, and enjoyed finding new horizons of pure sadism to cross, just to make his victims' ends that much more gruesome, and to strike fear into the hearts of any who dared to cross his path. Megamind wasn't afraid of Blade - he was far from the first psychopathic killer the alien had ever met - but he felt deep down that the world would be a far better place without him, a rather surprising attitude from someone who had become a villain largely because of all the cruelty that same world had shown him. But because of that, he also knew how it felt to be the helpless victim of others who wielded unearned and undeserved power. He seldom did anything to actively oppose the criminal scum that infested parts of Metro City, but by and large, he detested it.
As the woman cried herself out against him, clearly venting the hysteria of what had been done to her, he felt a jumble of emotions. The first was shock, as he'd never been touched by any human who had turned to him for protection, much less a female. Granted, he'd put himself in this position by being foolish enough to get involved, but now that he was here, he would just have to make the best of it. It felt vaguely nice, in a way he hadn't really experienced since he'd been a boy and had needed to protect Minion from his cruel classmates.
Of course, Megamind told himself with a mental slap in the face, there was no question about making a regular habit of this kind of thing; it would simply ruin his reputation as a villain and destroy his path of destiny. Blade and his cohorts weren't capable of causing any trouble for the moment, but he would need to do something to make sure they didn't cause trouble later. Somehow, he needed to be sure that they were taken out of circulation, hopefully for the remainder of their unnatural lives.
But he couldn't very well hand them over to the authorities. That kind of thing would not only ruin his standing as a supervillain, it would also make him a target for the Bradford Gang, and most likely every other gang in Metro City that hired slime like Blade. If these five thugs merely claimed that he had attacked them, he knew very well that few would believe them, as he had carefully allowed the otherwise unflattering belief that he was a weak and ineffective fighter to flourish. If it was widely accepted that he was no threat in such ways, the few times he needed to resort to pure physicality would be dismissed as excuses made by people who needed to push the blame for their own failure onto someone else. Ordinarily, he despised being made a scapegoat, but in this case, it was simply a matter of personal protection.
And there was also this woman to consider. Megamind had little use for the investigative reporters who tried to stick their noses into his business for their own gain; to him, the media was a tool to be used for his own purposes, at his discretion, not theirs. But that didn't mean they deserved to be slaughtered, even though there had been a few times when he'd entertained notions of doing away with particularly pesky reporters who had reveled in publicly humiliating him. He never would, but thinking of inventive ways to disintegrate them helped to take away some of the sting necessity inflicted on his pride.
Besides, even if she was one of those reporters, he felt she'd already paid the price for her nosiness, and more. Getting caught by Blade and being forced to witness his "techniques" in action, knowing that you were next in line for slaughter was an experience he wished on no one, not even Wayne. He wanted his old rival out of his life, but he would consign no one to the Complete Tour of Hell that was Blade's speciality. Especially not a young woman whom Blade had already dragged through the first three or four levels.
It occurred to Megamind that he was merely presuming that she was a young woman because of the thugs' sexual interest in her. Though he found the very idea of rape and molestation revolting, he knew that many hoods had no qualms about forcing themselves on women, regardless of their age or appearance. If they were in the wrong place at the right time, any woman or even girl was considered fair game.
Shuddering away some of that disgust (and, thankfully, finding that his own adrenaline shakes were finally abating), the alien bent his head to try to get a better look at the woman's face. It was impossible for the moment, as she had it pressed against his chest and he didn't have the heart to force her to move. When he'd been checking her eyes for signs of severe head trauma and had examined her face to see if any other serious damage had been inflicted, it had been a bit difficult to see beyond the bruises and swelling and streaks of blood - little of which appeared to be her own, thankfully, though that opened whole new areas of revulsion and mental cruelty. From what he had been able to discern, she was perhaps a few years younger than himself, and he supposed that without the marks of brutality, she might have been considered reasonably attractive. It was hard to tell for sure, given this light and her current condition, and it was really beside the point.
He lifted his head and looked around then, ignoring the "dead" thugs and the remains of their victims. He made a habit of getting to know the names and faces of all the local reporters so that he could either avoid them or use them as a means to spread his own news when he wished. He didn't recognize this woman at all, and in his admittedly very cursory glance at her too-exposed body, he hadn't seen anything on her tattered clothing to identify her as a newsie, as the hoods had called her. Either she was a very new face that they knew and he didn't - a situation he found annoyingly intolerable - or something else had tipped them off. Perhaps....
Carefully removing his left hand where it was poised at the woman's back in case she started to vomit again, he lifted his watch to his face, nudging the communicator to life with the tip of his nose. "Minion," he said quietly, "I'm at the east end of the alley outside of Falk's equipment yard. I need you to come and check something out for me."
He could hear Minion's concerned expression. "Is everything all right, sir?"
Megamind couldn't help but smile a little at his guardian's predictable response. "I'm fine, but I had a bit of an encounter with some of Bradford's hired muscle."
He could hear the fish's gasp over the sound of an accelerating engine. "Not Blade?" Minion plainly hoped for a negative answer.
The villain didn't hate to disappoint him. "Yes, but don't worry, he's been... neutralized. I'll explain everything later. But I should warn you, Minion, I didn't arrive soon enough to interrupt all of his usual activities."
"I understand, sir," came the grim reply. "I'm on my way."
When Minion arrived, the car parked just outside the alley to facilitate a fast getaway if such was needed, his robotic footsteps echoed around the bend in the alley as he approached. Megamind was glad he'd thought to warn him that Blade had been at work here. A basically gentle-hearted creature, the alien piscine was even more disgusted by the human capacity for senseless barbarism than his master. While he ordinarily thought of gang-on-gang violence as a form of natural selection that kept the predators from growing too numerous, Minion didn't like seeing the results of that violence, especially not first-hand. When he came around the corner, the robotic suit stopped as its inhabitant assessed the scene, determining where he needed to go and what he needed to avoid. Megamind saw this, and called to him, not loudly.
"It's all right, Minion, most of them are still alive, just de-gunned. Just steer clear of the dumpsters and you should be all right."
Minion nodded, but nonetheless stepped cautiously as he drew near. "How long do we have until they come around?" he wondered. "I didn't pick up any other signs of activity on my way here."
The blue alien felt himself relax just a tiny bit. "Good, that means Bradford and the rest of his scum wanted to be out of here before Blade went to work. These goons should be out for at least another full hour. I need you to see if you can spot something over there." He nodded toward the fence, at the shadows of smaller trash cans clustered between the dumpsters and the wall of chain link.
"Of course, sir - but who's that?" Minion bent down slightly, curious as to who was leaning against his boss, wrapped in the boss's cape.
"One of Blade's almost-victims, not a gang member, if that's what you're wondering. When I arrived, they were about to-" The large head shook, dismissing the matter for the time being. "I'll explain later. They said she's a reporter, but I don't recognize her. They roughed her up pretty badly, and I wanted to see if there was anything around that might tell us who she is. I can't very well take her to a hospital, but I thought if we had something to go on - a name, an address, a phone number - we could leave some anonymous tip for them to come get her."
"I suppose that could work," Minion agreed even as he moved in the direction Megamind had indicated. "But if she's in bad shape, that might not be the best idea. She could... well, die before help arrived."
"I know, but it's not like we have a cell phone handy to call 911, either. I was thinking that she might, if she's really a reporter."
"Hmm, that's true. Did you check her pockets?"
Megamind was glad Minion was looking away and the light was sporadic at best, because he could feel himself blushing furiously. "Ah - no. I, uh, suppose I should." Where does women's clothing have pockets? he wondered. He really didn't want to just feel around aimlessly, especially not knowing what he did about the state of her clothing and what the heavies had been doing to her. He looked down, and saw that she had shifted her head, enough to look up at him.
A distant flash from the fireworks display gleamed in her pain-fogged eyes, which he only then noticed were a clear blue. "No phone," she whispered, letting her head sag again.
The blue alien was relieved. "She says she doesn't have a phone, Minion," he called to the fish.
"That's too bad," came the disappointed reply, which brightened a moment later. "Is she awake, sir? That's good, if she has a concussion."
"I know. She's been conscious, but not very lucid."
"Have you asked her name?"
From the way she suddenly stiffened and seem to shrink into herself, Megamind could tell that she'd heard the question, and for some reason was afraid to answer it. He wasn't sure if she was afraid to tell him, or if she feared someone else hearing it - like one of the not-dead thugs. He decided there would be no harm in indulging her.
"No, but I don't think she's in any shape to answer questions, just yet," he fibbed, only slightly. Considering his own experiences with milder concussions, it was very likely the truth, anyway. "Have you found anything? I thought I saw something over there, though it might've just been a piece of trash."
Minion gave his version of a snort. "Yeah, well, there's sure plenty of that around here. But you were right, sir, I found this." He came over, holding out a digital camera with an attached night lens. "There's a KMCP property sticker on it, and the power's getting low. It looks like it was locked on the video record setting."
Megamind took the thing with his free hand, scanning it quickly. "This may not belong to KMCP anymore," he said, mostly to himself. "They replaced all their field cameras with newer models six months ago. This is one of their old ones."
Minion blinked, startled. "How do you know that, sir?"
The green eyes rolled in expressive amusement. "Ah, Minion, you forget who really invented the SD card. I have a few backdoors to access their data if I want, so I keep track of any major purchases by groups I might find a need to hack into in the future." He thumbed the button to activate the rear display screen and scan the contents of the card. He was amused by the first items, still images of him working on the rooftop, of Metro Man's arrival and their brief scuffle. There were a few pictures, disturbingly clear, of Blade, before the display shifted to a video replay - so clumsily, he was positive it had been by accident. The sound was very low, and he didn't bother to try to turn it up. The visual alone was disturbing, and it suddenly shifted to a strange angle as the camera was dropped. There followed blurs as it was moved around, then discarded - but it was left active. Apparently the punks hadn't realized it was set to record video, not stills. He thought there was nothing more to see, and then, he recognized flashes of himself, fighting the heavies and taking them out. The device ran out of juice before it reached the end of the recorded contents.
Megamind thought hard and fast. Minion had gone to finish searching for any other clues as to the woman's precise identity, and he had a decision to make. The evidence on this little data card would certainly be enough to convict Blade of murder and the other punks as willing accessories; from the bits he'd heard as he skipped through the video, it would also implicate Rock Bradford in the gas main explosion, and possibly drug trafficking as well. But it also showed too much, of his involvement and of this woman's face. Courts would have a field day with it, ruining his image as a supervillain, and quite likely destroying the woman's life as she was dragged through a potentially endless round of trials as a witness. Neither was a pleasant prospect. But there was another option, still unpleasant, but with the possibility of fewer dangerous repercussions.
"That's all there is, sir, except for this," Minion reported as he finished his search. He held up a case for a telephoto lens, its webbing strap also marked with the KMCP logo. "We really ought to see about getting the trash picked up-" He motioned to the still comatose thugs. "-and her taken to a hospital. Maybe we can just make a call from a pay phone...."
But Megamind shook his head. While he'd been examining the contents of the camera's memory card, he'd felt the woman grow very still. She was still alive, but she'd slipped even more deeply into shock, perhaps entering a coma. If her head injuries included anything more severe than a bad concussion, time could be critical. Villain though he was fated to be, he didn't want her to die. "I don't think she has that much time," he said softly, thinking.
"Then what can we do, sir?"
Off to the west, in the direction of the lakefront festivities, the first rumbles of the traditional grand finale could be heard, accompanied by the bright flashes that would soon grow brighter and brighter. "I have an idea," Megamind said, setting aside the camera. He reached around to the back of his gunbelt and brought out the remote. Its surface was scarred by the blast from Metro Man's laser vision, but it was only superficial. The blinking red ARMED light was still lit, and there was no damage to the main body, nor to the controls. He decided.
"Take care of her, Minion," he instructed, relinquishing his hold on the at-best semi-conscious woman. "I'll be right back."
The robotized fish - whose current body was farther back along the evolutionary chain of great apes, more akin to a tall chimpanzee or orangutan than a gorilla, lighter but not as powerful - complied without question, though he gave his boss a puzzled look in passing. Megamind trotted off to the turn in the alley and disappeared around the corner.
Beyond Minion's sight, he continued on until he reached the street, where the car - just recently modified to achieve invisibility - was waiting. From that position, he could just barely see the top of the long empty Metro Glassworks building, where he had been setting up his various devices just before Wayne had showed up. It was a little far to be certain it would work, but he aimed the remote and pressed the IGNITE button.
There was a slight crackle and flicker of what looked like firecrackers on the distant rooftop - and just as the show at the lakefront began to build to its climax, the skies over Rustville blazed with the sudden fire of a massive display of specially crafted fireworks, smokes and lasers, exploding rockets, flares, and nigh onto every kind of showy fire and light imaginable - all the lights and explosions, of course, in electric blue and blinding silver. It outshone the city's display by at least an order of magnitude; Megamind was particularly pleased with the effects that caused his trademark M design to literally blaze in glory across the skies above the entire city. He had no doubt that this would annoy certain people he wanted to annoy, and attract the attention of one specific person. To hopefully guarantee it, he went out into the middle of the broad, empty street, dancing gleefully under the lights of his creation, his attention actually focused elsewhere.
Ah, here it comes! As much as Wayne irritated Megamind by catching him unawares via his superpowers, there were rare occasions on which the blue genius found the predictability of his foe’s reactions to certain stimuli useful, if he was properly prepared for it. Even with the thunder of incendiary art shaking all of Rustville, he was able to concentrate well enough to hear the far too familiar shriek of air that always preceded Metro Man's super-swift arrival. He calculated the direction, counted the seconds, one, two-
"Time out'" he declared, spinning on his heel and holding up one hand in the gesture they'd somehow agreed upon, years ago. And as expected, there was Wayne, one second fired up with determination to nab him for disturbing the peace or shooting off fireworks without a permit or something equally, ridiculously petty, the next second brought up short, literally, by the Rules of their Game.
Nonetheless, Scott scowled. "You can't use that to avoid justice, Megamind!" he snapped. "That gas main explosion-"
"Was none of my doing, though, oh, I knew you would try to blame it on me! Just ditch the high and mighty super dramatics and listen for a change, Wayne. I have some real hero work for you." He started back toward the alley at an easy run, gesturing for his adversary to follow. When Scott didn't, he turned to glare at him, hands on hips. "Look, I know you want to just haul me back to prison and be done with it, but this time, things aren't that simple. You're supposed to be the superhero, not me! Does all that hair suck the intelligence straight from your brain? Or is it just another mass of muscle up there? Do I have to tell you how to do your own job? This is a matter of life and death!"
Megamind could see the thought processes making their way across Wayne's face at what to him seemed a ridiculously slow pace. Finally, the hero acquiesced. "All right, I'll go along - but no tricks!"
The blue genius snorted as he resumed his course into the alley. "If I'd known it could be that easy, I'd've sent you an engraved invitation years ago!" He said nothing more as he led his nemesis to the very disturbing situation behind the abandoned chemical factory.
As they returned to the area near the equipment yard, with the crime scene clearly, if strangely, lit by the still blazing blue light from Megamind's incendiary display - which had been designed to linger at least until midnight, or until his super rival figured out how to end it - Wayne frowned, taking in the sprawled bodies, the blood, and other more grisly sights. "Did you do this?" he demanded, abruptly pure Metro Man, champion of justice.
Megamind sneered. "Oh, please, grow up, Wayne! I may be a criminal genius, but unlike mere human vermin, I have standards! I don't kill and you know it!"
The hero had been about to say something about people who had been killed by that gas main explosion, but he stopped short, remembering the villain's assertion that he hadn't done it. Oddly, Wayne didn't require further proof to believe him, since he had long ago learned that if Megamind could be said to have one odd virtue, it was that he always owned up to the crimes he committed. Granted, he was proud of them, not remorseful, but it was still a form of honesty. Using his vast array of super senses, Wayne quickly assessed the situation. "These five aren't dead," he noted, gesturing to the strangely stunned hoodlums.
"No, it's just a simulation," Megamind agreed as he headed toward Minion and the girl. "Very effective, but temporary. It should wear off in about an hour."
Having looked more closely, the hero frowned. "That's Blade Bladowski," he pointed out, recognizing the gaunt killer. "Rock Bradford's executioner. Did he do that?" One thumb jerked toward the dumpsters and their horrific contents.
The villain nodded. "Yes, it's obviously his trademark handiwork. I wasn't here to actually witness it, thank God."
"But you took him and his goons down?" Wayne sounded incredulous.
This time, Megamind shrugged. "What can I say? Words were exchanged, they insulted my intelligence, and I had to defend my honor. There are some civic improvements I support, after all - in particular certain ones concerning pest control. Consider this my public service work for the century."
Wayne shook his head. "You just won't give up this senseless life of evil, will you?"
"If you have a destiny, you should follow it. Don't forget, you're the one who taught me that, back in shool -and if you don't like the results, blame yourself." When his rival opened his mouth to answer, Megamind didn't give him the chance. The talk was taking a turn that made him uncomfortable, especially in light of his real reason for summoning the hero. "Look, just drop it, all right? Those punks won't be going anywhere for a while, so you can come back and bring them to justice later. There's something else that needs immediate attention." He crouched down beside Minion and the woman, motioning for Wayne to join them.
"Blade and his thugs worked her over," he explained when the big man had also crouched down, his brow furrowed with heroic concern as he finally noticed the battered woman. "I believe they caught her and thought she was a reporter, spying on them, though I don't recognize her as anyone local. Do you?"
Carefully, Wayne lifted her face toward the light. Her eyes were shut now, and the glow from above made the damage to her face look even more ugly. Megamind felt something strange squeeze his gut, an unusual wish that he hadn't chosen to use so much blue light in his display. Ordinarily, he would have considered it the most beautiful color imaginable, but on so many livid bruises streaked with half-dried blood, it was disturbing.
Wayne shook his head. "No, she must be someone new." His eyes focused on her injuries with inhuman intensity. "She's in pretty bad shape, but no skull fractures. Do you know if they-"
"No," came the emphatic reply. Megamind didn't want to hear him say the words. "They were going to, but they didn't get that far."
His nemesis looked up at him with an expression of wonder that made the villain squirm. "Did you take them out to save her?"
The smaller alien fidgeted. "Well, yes," he blurted out. "But you don't have to make it sound so gall-ahnt. I've been wanting an excuse to bring Blade and his flunkies down a few pegs for years." It was a perfectly sound excuse, he thought. "Look, I know it's a perfectly ridiculous request, but can we stop talking about how fantastic I am and just get right to the point?"
Wayne snorted, having thought he would never hear those words coming from that mouth. "Whatever you want, little buddy," he smirked, enjoying the way it made the villain flinch.
"Don't ever call me that again! Not everyone is as grotesquely huge as you, and I am most certainly not your 'buddy!' Let's focus, here. She needs help, she needs it now, and I can't get it for her fast enough. You can. Am I correct in presuming that other people were hurt in that explosion?"
The hero scowled. "Yes, and you-"
The sharp look Megamind gave him would have frozen helium in the heart of the sun. "I told you, I had nothing to do with it!" he snapped, rightfully angry. "I may be the biggest thorn in your side, but you know damn well this is not my style! If you can't get that through your thick skull, Mr. I'm-So-Perfect, then you should think of turning in your Hero License!"
It was true that Wayne Scott could be pretty thick-headed at times, and he had a tendency to not let go of some ideas once they came to him. But he also knew very well that not only was Megamind telling the truth about that explosion being utterly unlike him, he was also the kind of person who never swore at others using the conventional expressions unless he was driven to it by an extreme need to make himself heard. Understanding that, Wayne accepted his rival's claim of innocence as fact. He nodded his acquiesce. "Sorry, you're right. What were you thinking, then?"
Inwardly, Megamind sighed, relieved to have gotten the idiot onto the proper track. "I was thinking that you can fly her anywhere in a matter of seconds. Take her to whatever hospital is accepting the most explosion victims, get them to take her as a critical emergency. From you, they won't ask who she is, they'll just act first and work out the details later. Tell them she was dug out of the rubble, hit with shrapnel from the blast, whatever works to explain her condition and her appearance."
"And you don't want any credit for it? People might excuse some of your bad behavior if you did a good deed once in a while...."
The villain hardly thought so. "Oh, I'm sure," he said, his words dripping sarcasm. "I don't need that, like I don't need word getting around on the streets that I've gone vigilante against the Bradford Gang - like she doesn't need to be pegged as a victim of gang violence who managed to escape. If any of them think that, they'll consider her a liability and go after her to finish the job."
Metro Man was actually impressed with his reasoning, and his obvious motivation. "And you want to protect her from that. Say what you will, li - Megamind. You've got a nasty little piece of hero somewhere in that evil heart of yours."
The alien ground his teeth. "Yes, and you no doubt gave me the tumor," he hissed. "I'm planning to perform surgery to get rid of it at the earliest opportunity. Will you do as I ask, or do you prefer to let her die while you waste time talking?"
"I'll do it, of course," the hero agreed, standing for a moment to remove his cape. "We'd better switch yours for mine, first," he suggested.
When Megamind answered with a frown, Minion - who made a habit of staying out of his boss's "discussions" with Metro Man - spoke up. "Sir, I think that's a good idea." He hastened to explain when the frown was turned on him, mixed with the hurt of hearing what to Megamind sounded like betrayal coming from his best and only friend. "If you want people to think that Metro Man rescued her from that explosion site to protect her from the gangs thinking she'd gotten mixed up with their dirty work, she can't show up in public wrapped in your cape! They'll ask questions!"
The frown vanished the instant Megamind saw his point. "That's true. Good thinking, Minion."
Wayne's smile was wry as he handed over his own cape. If it made the little guy more comfortable to think this was the fish's idea, so be it. "Take care of her while I take care of them," he said instead. While the villain and his henchfish went about carefully unwrapping the black and blue cloth from the injured woman - who, even unconscious, seemed very reluctant to let it go - the superhero swiftly emptied one of the dumpsters, carefully avoiding any disturbance of those containing the bloody evidence of the brutal murders. That done, he collected the five insensate thugs, piled them into the big metal hopper, closed the rusty steel lids, then melted their latches and hinges into solid masses of metal with his laser vision. He returned to the others just as Megamind was about to finish wrapping the woman with the hero's white and gold cape. Wayne saw that the black-gloved hands were shaking a bit, but he had the good sense not to ask why.
"They won't be going anywhere, now," he said instead, clapping his hands together as if brushing away the dust of hard work. "Just in case I can't get back before they wake up. I don't suppose you'd like to save me the work another day and just hitch a ride back to the prison right now?"
The look Megamind gave him was one of pure disgust. "And I don't suppose you'd like to save me the work of coming up with another evil plot, and just leave Metrocity right now?"
"Fair enough," Wayne allowed. He started to bend over to pick up the woman, but Megamind for once was quicker, and the hero didn't try to stop him. He had been the one to save her from certain death, after all; he should have the privilege of putting her into the hands that could most easily complete the rescue. He nodded gravely as he accepted the burden, noticing but not mentioning the genuine concern on the blue face. "I'll get her the best help possible," he promised, "and then I'll come back to pick up the trash and sweep the area, just in case she left behind a car or something that could be used to identify her to the wrong people. Though sooner or later, the police will have to know-"
"No," Megamind said firmly. "Keep her out of this. You don't know what it's like, living with trauma, with real fear. If they use her as a witness, even if they keep her out of the actual courts, it'll ruin her life. She's young. At least let her have a chance to recover properly, to live it." His implication - that he had been robbed of that possibility when he was a child, most specifically by Wayne himself - was clear.
Even so, Scott's years of dedication to justice would not let him leave it. "But she-" he began, only to be cut off by a gesture from the alien.
"I can provide them with all the proof they need - anonymously, of course. It'll show up at the DA's office first thing Tuesday morning. You have my word on it. No crossed fingers, this time.”
The hero wasn't quite at ease with the suggestion, but he also knew his adversary well enough to know when he was being totally honest. He gave his acceptance with a single brusque dip of his head, then took off into the blue-lit night.
The two left behind watched him go; then Megamind bent down to pick up the camera and the lens case Minion had found. As he straightened, the fish held out his cape, but the villain shook his head.
"Let's go home, Minion," he sighed, exhausted. "I suddenly feel like I could use a long, long bath." He needed to wash away the dirt and the smells of having dealt with slime like Blade - but privately, he was wondering if he would ever be able to wash away all traces of the strangely... good things he was now feeling as the result of all his disturbingly unvillainous behavior.