The van's rocking woke him. He blinked, the light filtering in from behind a drape separating the cargo space where he lay and the driver's cab. It took him a moment to remember where they were.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

Minion whispered, drawing back the curtain and poking his head in.

"It's fine." His fist came to his mouth, blocking a yawn. "Did you bring-" He paused as a bag was held out to him. "Thank you."

He opened the brown bag, found a breakfast sandwich, and took a bite of it. His arm jolted as a cold feeling pressed against it, he took the offered carton of orange juice and took a gulp.

"Here's the watch back." Minion produced the Holo Watch they had to share for the moment. "And one limited edition trooper." A plastic bag was presented next. " Authenticity guaranteed. Does that mean we'll be able to move today?"

Megamind strapped the watch on and then tore open the packaging. The figurine was appropriately detailed, he scanned it with the watch. That was one more domino in place.

"I'll have to see if there's any good new intel."

He leaned back against the door, organizing his thoughts. It was a delicate operation with many uncertainties.

"I don't like being away so long." Minion stated anxiously while shifting uncomfortably in his seat

"The lair will still be there when we get back." They had only been gone a few days and he'd given Harry strict instructions NOT to touch anything. "Don't forget this was your idea in the first place."

"I know, and I'm happy we're doing it." Megamind could tell something was being held back but Minion held his tongue. "I'm going to move the van again."

The engine rumbled to life and he could feel them begin to move. They'd almost been busted by a traffic cop, a quick application of amnesia spray had prevented their operations from being discovered.

He'd never considered the possibility of him being in a mentorship role. The prospect slightly frightened him. Molding the next generation was a great responsibility and one he did not take lightly.

There was thought put into recording and posting a course but he hesitated. He needed a guinea pig, someone to test his ideas on. Finding a candidate was a complex matter.

Trainwreck was too stubborn, they also couldn't afford to sour their business relationship.

Purity? Too old, set in her ways.

Bakuda? He'd helped her boss get arrested.

Those Undersiders he'd met? They were a legitimate option and one he considered. Ultimately, it was a problem of quantity. Four pupils was a bridge too far, he needed one to start off with.

They needed to be young in their career and free of any previous affiliations. That eliminated most of the existing capes in Broken Bay. He didn't want to wait for one to appear so they expanded their search to the entirety of New England.

Minion had discovered them. He was satisfied with the pick, they went beyond his basic criteria. They knew how to work a stage and manage an audience. Ambition, they had that in spades.

Their first villainous plot had been aimed at an entire country!

Clearly, they had bit off too much which led to a swift arrest but that was something they could work on.

Rough clay to be molded, he just needed to get to them.

It was a choice between the courthouse, jail, or transport. Their trial was an ongoing affair so they were continuously shuttled between both locations.

Ironically, the jail would be the least guarded. The prison convoy always had multiple heroes following and the courthouse was positively crawling whenever the case was being heard.

He opened his laptop, reviewing the surveillance footage they'd collected. The when and how were as important as the where. Reviewing it, he found no surprises. It was exterior footage, catching the comings and goings of people. The jail operated like clockwork.

Clicking on a file, a dossier of the employees opened up.

It was an amalgamation of different sources. Salaries for state employees were a matter of public record and he had started there. Then he developed a rudimentary facial recognition software to plug in the surveillance footage. Finally, the ever-reliable social media was used for the meat of the information.

He cycled through them, he'd done it before but they were constantly updated with new information. Most of it was useless for his purposes and he was finding people tended to overshare.

An entry caused him to pause. The surveillance footage was brought up again and compared it with what he'd just learned. The man's job details were pulled up next.

Hmmm. Megamind pulled up the app that the post had mentioned. It was a fitness app, not something he'd usually download yet he pressed the button anyways. Their security was laughable and soon he was able to track down the man's profile.

A route was pulled up on his computer and he climbed into the passenger seat.

"Minion." He tilted the screen in his direction. "Let's go for a jog."

—

His arms pumped at his sides and he gave large breaths. The heat from his exertion was welcome as this early in the morning it was chilly and these gym shorts offered little protection.

He slowed as he passed the chain-linked gate, waving at the man sitting in the booth. His only acknowledgment was a raised coffee glass.

In front of him lay the Suffolk County House of Correction. Constructed out of red granite with bars on the windows and some ten stories tall, it was quaint compared to the facility he was usually kept in.

At a walk now, he approached the employee entrance located on the side of the building. Reaching into his pocket a keycard was produced and swiped.

His hand grasped the door handle and he waited for a buzz before pulling it open.

A dimly lit room presented itself. Behind a desk sat a portly woman, separated from him by glass.

He cleared his throat and approached, giving her a smile not his own.

"Hello, Denise." He was pretty sure that was right. "How is Shadow and, uh, Jenkins?"

"Oh, morning Mario." She looked up from what she was reading and her brow furrowed. "My cats? They're fine…you seem to be in a good mood today."

He slapped the counter good-naturedly.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's another wonderful day of keeping villains behind bars. How I love it so much. Anyway, no time to chat. I need to catch a shower before the morning briefing."

He gave a salute and waited by the next door. It felt like ages until it buzzed and he walked through.

"Are you in sir?" A voice crackled in his ear.

He made sure the hallway was clear and then brought the Holo Watch to his mouth.

"Code; yes, I am." He whispered.

"You know, the whole point of a code is-"

"Code; not now Minion!" He gave a harsh response. There was a time for critiques and it was not in the middle of an infiltration.

Mario Lopez was the name of the guard he was impersonating. Uncoincendlty it was also the name of a man stashed in the back of their van. He'd been given a dose of amnesia and knockout spray. It was his fault really, who posted their jogging routes to social media and expected not to be kidnapped?

He heard footsteps and he brought his hand down, looking as natural as possible. He shared some nods and finger guns with the pair that passed.

With public records of its construction memorized, he navigated the building and made it to what he hoped were the shower rooms. The plans were old, things could have been remodeled or repurposed since then.

Fortunately, this part hadn't. He ducked in and found a stall. Others were occupied and he turned on the water to drown out the sounds he made. Switching the dial on his watch, he changed into a Mario in full uniform.

"Code; have you deployed my program?"

In order to prevent any alarms from triggering, he'd written something to gain access to the prison's systems. He'd set it up to run at the press of a button and instructed Minion to use it once he entered.

"Yes, sir. But the cameras look to be on a closed circuit."

So they weren't totally incompetent. No matter.

"Code; and the alarms?"

"Checking…we have those."

That was a relief, he had contingencies but better not to resort to them.

"Code; understood. Making my way to the target."

He exited the stall, taking a moment to look at himself in the mirror before proceeding out.

This part of the jail was low security. The wing he was headed to was pointedly not. The prt ran that part and there would be additional security measures.

He'd been making his way over there when someone jogged up to him, causing him to freeze.

"Mario." He dodged the pat on the shoulder the man had tried to give him. "Are you okay?"

While physical contact would not break the disguise, Mario's body build was different enough that someone astute may notice something off if they touched him.

"Oh, I'm fine. I think" He gave a fake cough and didn't meet the man's eyes. "I think I might have caught something. Don't tell anyone. I need this shift."

"Secrets safe with me." The man's demeanor shifted and he leaned on one leg while scratching the back of his head. "Actually, I was hoping you'd pick up my shift on Tuesday."

"Yes, that's more than fine. Great actually. Listen, I have to go now but we'll sort it out during lunch…Johnny"

"Huh" The man took a step back and Megamind thought his cover to be blown when Johnny's mouth opened again. "Sorry, I think that's the first time you've ever called me by my nickname."

Megamind avoided any drastic measures and searched for a way out.

"Well, we've worked together for…" Minion's voice buzzed in his ear. "Six months and twenty-three days."

"Wow, you counted?" Johnny began blinking rapidly and looking away. "That's, man that means alot to me. I was beginning to think no one liked me."

Johnny approached his with hands held wide and Megamind jumped back.

"Ah, ah, ah. Sick remember."

He seemed to remember himself and gave a sheepish smile.

"Oh right, well thanks again, Mario."

Megamind walked backward and away from the security risk while waiving.

"No problem Johnny." He yelled before spinning on his heel and turning the corner.

"Phew, Code; I'm approaching the checkpoint." He wiped his forehead and spoke in a low voice to the watch.

As he made his way past cell blocks, he took a deep breath. The smell of body odor, stale air, cleaning supplies, soap, and mayonnaise met his nostrils.

They should make a candle for this, it really smelt like home. The sounds of inmates conversing with one another died as he approached a set of heavy-windowless double doors with two people in full gear standing guard. A foam nozzle tracked his movements and he stopped in front of the pair.

"Indentification" The curt voice of the trooper addressed him. With the face plate, it made it impossible to tell who it was.

"Here it is." He passed his ID badge. The trooper received it and swiped it on a card reader connected to his tablet. "Catch the game last night?"

The trooper didn't give anything away and studied the screen.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You're clear." The trooper handed the card back. "Step through to security."

"I know the drill." He bobbed his head up and down. "I've done this hundreds of times after all."

They stood aside and Megamind walked forward, into the belly of the beast.

The doors slammed shut behind him with a thud. It was a small room with a metal detector. Another trooper was waiting for him, directing him to stand on an X. He stood, with his arms held out until the light flashed green. Most of his equipment had been Dehyrdated, with the stand out being his watch. Far from being his first prison break, he'd long since developed an alloy able to fool metal detectors.

"Proceed." The man or woman instructed and he made no attempts at small talk as he went through the next set of doors and entered the prt wing.

"Your heart rate is up, is everything okay?"

He didn't respond, conscious of the increase of cameras in this wing. He kept his face level but his eyes roamed until he found a bathroom sign.

Checking the stalls, he was relieved to find them empty.

"Code; have you found where they're keeping her yet?"

He asked while rehydrating his equipment. The gun was reholstered on his waist and his head protection was safely secured.

"Based on the logs I went through, it should be the seventh floor. You'll need to use an elevator."

"Code; got it. Going dark."

He switched the dial on his watch and walked out as a fully equipped prt trooper. The claim of the miniature he scanned having 100% authenticity would have to be true.

Elevators couldn't be changed so he knew exactly where to go. Entering it, he discovered his first true roadblock. Pressing the seventh floor did nothing and there was a camera next to it.

Facial recognition? If he'd known he would have knocked one of them out. There was no use lamenting about it and he covered it while yanking out the panel underneath. A few wire-switching and the elevator began a smooth ascent. He watched the floor indicators pass by and disconnected the wires at the right level. Hastily, he put the panel back on before the doors swung open.

Perfect execution.

"Sir, I just had to squash an alarm."

Okay not so perfect. Close enough.

This area was astonishingly quiet and his footsteps echoed as he traveled down. It did not take his genius intellect to find where his target was being held, it was the one where four troopers stood at attention.

One of them stepped forward.

"Sergeant, we weren't expecting you." The faceless trooper spoke and Megamind mirrored his salute.

"It was last minute. I need to check on the prisoner. Make sure she's not trying to escape."

"That's against protocol, Sir. All communication with the prisoner must be scheduled ahead of time and done through an intermediary."

"I understand, but you see. My daughter was a big fan and wanted an autograph before…you know."

"I can't allow that, Sir. What is your badge number? This is highly irregular."

"Badge number? You're being too paranoid, we're all prt soldiers here."

The group shared a look and nozzles were pointed in his direction. Megamind shot first, dehydrating them in quick succession.

A screeching alarm rang telling him they'd not been able to subsume them all.

"Code; go loud. I repeat, code; go loud!" He spoke into the watch and leveled destroy at the door, blasting it open.

"Roger that sir, deploying go-loud code."

He dove in as the hallway turrets opened up with containment foam. His eyes scanned the room ceiling and he destroyed the nozzles beginning to aim at him. They burst and foam began to expand from their locations. He didn't have alot of time before it covered them.

"Ready to fly the coop?" He spared a line to the girl strapped into a chair staring at him with wide-trembling eyes. A muffled scream sounded as his shot impacted her, reducing her to a cube. "Sorry, but those restraints would take too long to remove here."

He grabbed it, aimed down with destroy, and squeezed the trigger again. He shielded his face as the concrete broke and he jumped down the new hole. He ignored the man yelling at him from the corner and repeated the action.

On the third floor, there was a barred window he could peek out of and see a hive of activity below. Some cars raced out, others raced in. Multiple collisions had occurred and he could see people arguing in the street.

Once an alarm was sounded there was no going back, the only thing to do then was to set them ALL off. As far as the city was concerned, half of their banks were currently being robbed.

He judged the size of the room, finding it just large enough. The Megamobile came to life in the space, squeezing him into the wall. He shimmied into it and set his gun on Destroy, removing the offending wall.

"Code; meet me at the you know where!"

Activating the cloak, he slammed the pedal and was suspended in the air for a few seconds before slamming down.

It rolled off of the patrol car and sped into the city.

The jail had never stood a chance.

—

Megamind sat in the back, observing the girl he'd liberated. She was frail, with bright yellow hair. He'd thought the feathers to be a prop but they turned out to be genuine. She'd been knocked out by tranquilizers administered via the collar she had been wearing when he found her. That, along with the rest of the restraints, had been promptly thrown out.

He'd had to be almost surgical in their removal. Her hands had been buried in strong metal buckets and submerged in containment foam. All of her appendages had been restrained by metal hooks connected to the chair with a plethora of chains surrounding her. The leather mask had been the easiest to remove, he found it a tad insidious how it was formed to prevent her from making any movements with her mouth.

All told it took over an hour to accomplish in the back of the moving van. He'd rendezvoused with Minion in a parking garage and made the swap after checking for any trackers.

The prt must be scratching their heads over what happened while they traveled peacefully back to Broken Bay.

The girl stirred and her eyelids flipped open. She shot into an upright position and backed up while giving a hoarse cry.

He double-checked his headgear before reacting.

"Easy there." He held out his hands in a calming manner. "I'm a bad guy." That earned another squeal and he reached toward the side, holding out a bottle of water. "Drink up."

When she didn't react he shook it in her direction. A hesitant hand reached out, snatching it. It was rapidly unscrewed and she gulped down its entire contents.

"Introductions." He began after seeing her finish. "I'm Megamind, resident supervillain and the one driving is Minion, resident minion."

Her head shifted erratically before a broken voice answered.

"Where am I? Where are you taking me?"

A mental note was made to work on her introduction skills.

"A van, clearly." He waved a hand showing their surroundings. "I'm taking you back to my lair."

"You-you're a villain." He had just told her that. "What do you want with me? Take me back?"

"Take you back?" he was confused for a moment before realization dawned on him and he slapped his forehead. "Oh, did you have an escape plan?" Ruining her plan was a terrible first impression. "I didn't mean to step on any toes, I'm sure it would have gone great. As for what we-"

"Boss." Minion held out a hand with a shirt. "Don't forget."

"Right, well Minion would like an autograph on this." He handed over the shirt and Sharpie. He wondered how much of Minion's lobbying for her was for this purpose. "What I want is to help you realize your full potential."

The shirt went untouched and she stared at him in questioning.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I get it, you want to strike it out on your own. Your plot to brainwash the country by distributing your music nationwide was appropriately villainous" He gave her kudos where they were due. "but there are alot of ways it could have gone smoother. With a seasoned veteran like myself. I'll have you whipped into a proper villain in no time."

He finished with a confident smile and a hand on his chest.

The girl's face shifted to one of horror.

"I-I am not a villain!" She shrieked, shrinking in on herself at the same time. "Take me back! Take me back right now!"

With being a performer, he'd expected her to be more confident.

"You're not a villain yet. But with my help, you will be. I even have minions waiting and ready for you."

Part of that was true. They were waiting but in no shape or form ready. It seemed an elegant solution to pair those women up with a budding villain.

"I don't want to be!" Her knees were to her chest and her hands wrapped tightly around them. Her breaths were rapid and shallow. "It was a mistake! Take me back!"

A distant memory flashed of a boy standing in a corner.

"I" His words caught in his throat. "can't do that."

She buried her head in her knees and started muttering to herself.

"No, you can't do this. I won't be a villain. It's not too late. If I go back they-."

"They'll lock you in another cage." His tone was heated, causing her to flinch. "Minion, some privacy?"

"Sure Boss." Minion drew the curtain back and turned up the music while singing along.

Megamind leaned in, hearing her murmur.

"No, you can't force me to be a villain."

"Me? I'm not forcing you to be anything. It's what you are." He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "You're bad."

Her head frantically shook, feathers whipping about. She pushed him back.

"No…I can fix this. I can go back to normal"

"You can't!" He got into her space again. His eyes bored into hers. He needed to make her understand. "This isn't a choice for you. There's no changing it."

Seeing her discomfort, he took a seat next to her. His legs were outstretched and he fiddled with his thumbs while he searched for the right words.

"I read your case." He spoke in a soft tone, barely audible over the music. "The entirety of it. I watched the recordings of the trial up to now. Don't you see? They'd already decided what you were when you walked in." From the judge to the jury, he-she'd never had a chance. "There was never Paige Mcabee, the singer. There was only Canary. There will only ever be Canary."

There was no denying that. She needed to accept it before being able to move forward.

"What do I do?" He heard her say through muffled sobs.

"You turn it on them." His fist clenched. "Take control. If they want you to be bad then be BAD. Forge it into your set of armor. Wear it with pride. That way…that way they can never hurt you again."

The sobs slowly died and she turned his head to him. It was an ugly face. Snot ran down her red nose. Puffed-up eyes were bloodshot and framed with bags. Tears streaked down her cheeks; It must have been a trick of the light but for a moment he thought his reflection could be seen in them.

He held out his hand.

"What do you say? Cadet-villain?"

Dainty fingers curled around his.