章 34: Taking A Risk
(Carter POV)
(Metro City Penitentiary, One Year Remaining In the Jump)
"Of all the people I expected to visit me, you are not one of them. I never expected you to make the time". Megamind said as I sat outside his cell.
"Well, after all of the years, you have tried to kidnap me. I myself never thought I would sit in front of you like this. But I just wanted to confirm something." The statement was met with a raised eyebrow from the man as I leaned back in my chair.
"Who and what would the illustrious Carter Davenport want from a small-time genius such as myself?" The question was asked without acknowledgment, but it couldn't fool me.
"I wanted to know why you keep going. What keeps driving you to fight against Metro Man? Is it some type of inferiority that you feel, or is it just something you yourself don't even know?" The question is met with silence as Megamind turns in his chair.
"I don't know." The blue man said only three words.
"What?"
"I. Don't. Know." Each word is spoken with a heavy tone.
"How can you not know?" Megamind gets up from his chair, pushes it to the side, and stares at me with an unreadable expression.
"I may be a genius, but I don't even know why I keep doing this. Every single time, I expect something to change one variable or somehow find his weakness. But after all these years, I haven't found one." After breathing, the man picks up his chair and sits back down.
"Then why keep trying?" I ask in silence, and the prison warden looks on with a static glare, watching us conversate.
"I wanted to be better than him." The words were spoken so softly that I needed to use my enhanced hearing to grasp what Megamind had just said.
"I can understand that more than you know." Megamind looks up at me, and I continue.
"I would always watch as my brother saved the day, while I would always have to look up and wonder if I would one day be able to do those things. He could fly across the world in seconds and lift entire city blocks in one hand. And all I could do was watch. On the worst days, I even despised that I couldn't do what he could do." Thankfully, our room was soundproofed, and no one could hear what we were saying.
"How did you handle feeling so lesser?" The question came from his mouth faster than he could even stop himself.
"I understood that I could never be him. I had to do my own thing. You could do so much better than me and even my brother. Why don't you?" The chair Megamind was sitting in then began to creak as Megamind held onto its armrests.
"It's not that simple. I can't just give up. I need to be better. I need to win-"
"That's the problem. There is no winning what you two do. There is no throne at the end of this conflict. And you know that besides, what would you do without him, without Metro Man?" The question is met again with silence as Megamind sits in his cell, looking down at the floor.
After a few minutes, a loud ringing can be heard as the warden comes over the intercom.
[Times up, Mr.Davenport. Visiting hours have ended.]
Looking at Megamind, I say one last thing: " I will be back, and maybe you can give me a better answer next time." Upon leaving the room, the Warden salutes me as I chuckle at his enthusiasm.
After leaving the prison, I hopped into a limo parked outside. Upon entering, I saw Wayne sitting near the divider window.
"Hey, Carter," he said with a slight wave and a smile.
"Hello, Wayne. Is there something you need?" The question is met with a slight head shake as Wayne asks, "Out of all the places I expected you to be, this is not one of them. I hope my brother isn't considering becoming a criminal."
"No, the prison orange doesn't really fit my style, and besides, I have more money than I know what to do with." Wayne chuckles at my reasoning as he leans back in his seat.
"I assume you heard my conversation about our mutual acquittance?" He nods, and I applaud his super hearing once again.
"I was listening in. Not because I was. And you? I was more worried about Megamind trying to make some type of escape again. But Carter, is what you said true?" Knowing he could tell if I was lying, I nodded, and he seemed to frown slightly as he asked, "Did I make you feel like that when we were younger?"
" I know that look, Wayne. And don't worry; it was a passing thing, and it was the ignorance of youth. And besides. I have my powers now. There's nothing you need to worry about." My answer seems to lighten the mood, but Wayne continues with my answer.
"While that is good to know, I am slightly miffed that you never told me about it. We could have talked about this much earlier." The annoyed tone was evident from his questioning.
"There wasn't any need to, as while I did feel that way, it didn't last very long. And while I was jealous, I knew that you would never harm me with your powers. That trust means so much more to me than you know." Wayne then smiles and gives me a hug, to which I return. As we do, I feel him nodding behind me as he says, " Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now, back to the city. I have three meetings to attend, and you must head home and shower as you smell like burnt cement." Wayne chuckles as he begins to fly home and gives me a small two-finger salute as I wave him away, laughing on his way back
I activate the holo-projector of my supposed limo driver, and the car begins to move. While I was rich, I did want to enjoy some alone time, so I may have used my intellect to create a self-driving limo. Being rich and intelligent has its own perks.
Looking back towards the prison, I wondered if what I had said to him would change anything. Now, only time will tell.
(One Month Later)
"I'm surprised you haven't already broken out. Is there something on your mind?" Megamind, who was reading a news magazine, simply sighed.
" I don't understand why you are here," Megamind said while reading the magazine.
" You and I both know that you know why I'm here." My obvious tone does seem to have a slight effect on him.
" Are you doing this to make yourself feel better? I could have everything I could ever want, even in this prison." I could feel his eyes narrow at me.
" No, this is a nice distraction for me. I need to get out of the office more because a mutually interested party wants me to go out more." The chuckle we both shared showed some progress.
Placing the newspaper down, Megamind slides it to me through the slot under his door. The headline itself wasn't anything too special, as it covered Metro Man's celebration day. Roxanne had even tried to ask me to try to get Metro Man for an interview, but Wayne was actually very tight-lipped about his personal life, so I had to refuse.
" I believe this is the 14th headline I've seen Metro Man on." After saying this, he simply began spinning in his chair.
"Are you feeling a bit jealous, Megamind? I didn't take you for the type to play for the other team."
"That joke is unfunny, and you should feel ashamed, Mr. Davenport." But the amusement didn't leave his eyes as he stopped spinning in his chair.
Raising my hands in a foe surrender, I continued, " Well, I was just expecting you to have already made your next scheme by now, but you're taking a lot longer than you usually do."
"Are you scared I might be planning something devious, Mr. Davenport?" Shaking his head, he huffs, knowing he couldn't harm me even if he tried.
Sighing, Megamind then asked, "Why are we here?"
" Is it too much to wish to have a conversation with an intellectual peer?" Megamind gave me only a deadpan stare.
" The last place you would wish to discuss something is in prison, Mr. Davenport. Or do I have to start questioning your tastes now?" Placing my hand under my chin, he seemed to shrink under my gaze.
" Never mind, that joke was in bad taste. But enough dodging around the issue. What do you want from me?"
" I want to offer you a chance, something that I assume you were never really given based on the fact that you were raised within these very walls."
Within a few seconds, the words seemed to sink in, and after a few more seconds, I saw Megamind begin shaking and laughing. "HAHAHAHAHA! Are you serious?! I am the greatest villain in history, and you would want me to commit to community service?"
"Yes." The one-word answers seem to baffle the blue man.
" I believe the warden should start looking for another street jacket, Mr. Davenport. Your sanity seems to be slipping if you could ever see me in anything but my glorious villain capes."
"That's not what I believe, and you know it, and I believe you're scared. If there's one thing I've noticed throughout your entire time as a villain, it's that you're afraid to commit. When you're just a few steps away from completing your plan, you fumble, and you're afraid to truly win.
"Get out. This talk is over." he then darkens the window between my chair and his cell, and I stand up, but not before leaving him a small note and sliding it under his door.
(One Month Later)
"Are you Ready to talk, Megamind?" I said, putting my chair down next to his cell.
The man refused to answer, as he had for the past few weeks. He just seemed to sit in silence as if pondering something.
" It seems like a waste to keep you locked in here when you could be doing so much more."
"What else is there?" The question reached my ears soon after I placed the chair down.
" There is so much out there we don't know about Megamind. You, me, and my brother are proof of that, so I limit ourselves to just being here for you being in the cell. When we could reach for the stars together." The chair slowly turned towards me, and I saw the bags under his eyes.
" What would you have me do in this dream of yours?" I passed him a small folder. He opened it, and after seeing it, his eyes began to water. I simply watched and waited.
" Where did you get this?" Megamind asks, his voice shaking.
" Something you may not have known about, but the remains of your ship contained some messages from your home world and their last words. They would want so much more for their son than any parent would. I will leave you with this information. We have the time, Megamind." I then stood up to leave, and as I did, I heard only two words.
"Thank you." The genius then read the rest of the information I left for him.
(Two Months Later)
" I am trusting you, Davenport, but if he makes one toe out of line-"
" I appreciate the trust Warden Simmons, but don't worry, I believe in him." All I received in return was a suspicious look from the warden.
" I don't see it to me. He will and always will be a criminal, a menace to society." The words did not escape Megamind, but the man did not acknowledge them lost in his thoughts.
" If anything happens, you will be the first to know, and I assume you're going to keep his cell ready." The man simply shook his head as if looking at a foregone conclusion.
"We shall see." Leading the blue Genius away with his fish in his hands, we entered my limo and entered the city.
I could feel my brother watching us throughout the entire trip, and while Megamind probably could not, his fidgeting could be seen as a sort of fighter-flight response.
Leaning back in my chair, I almost lament how big of a risk I am taking right now. I myself don't know why I am trying to change this man, but only time will tell. I just have to keep moving forward.
(All right, the next chapter will be the last one within the world of Megamind. As we can see, the butterfly effect is powerful in the smaller movies. I know many of you guys are voting for the boys as the next world, and to be honest, it will be a bit of a struggle to figure out a plot for that one. I hope you enjoy what I'm writing, and I wish you all a good day.)
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