"You've been busy."

Megamind inspected the workshop, or rather the production facility. It was built underneath a building too small to be a warehouse yet too large to be a shed. There were proper, if rough-looking, furnaces lining the wall. They were currently dormant so he wasn't able to judge their effectiveness. Towards the back were several other pieces of machinery, their purpose not readily apparent.

Pipes ran in every direction, some going from device to device and others disappearing into the ceiling or floor. The area was inconsistently but well lit with a mashup of car lights hanging from the ceiling. His mind cataloged the issues he discovered.

"Course I have. What do you think I wave my nonexistent hand and fill all those orders? I've had to scale up. Box cars weren't doing it for me so I had to set up in here. Think it used to be storage for parts. Already had a basement, though I had to dig it out a bit. "

Trainwreck waved a gauntlet. Like his furnace, the suit had received an overhaul. He walked on two legs now, the second being close to what he had created but he could spot some revisions in the make. Echoes of Megamind's design were found in other places, some of them more puzzling than others. For example, the rigging in the chest piece was derivative of his work yet he had seen more viable alternatives in some of Trainwreck's previous designs.

Perhaps Megamind's designs were assumed superior to his own and that was why they were favored so heavily. That sounded right.

"Like my new digs? Something clicked after you left and I got the rest of my gear up to snuff faster than I thought possible."

Trainwreck raised both arms above his head and brought them together producing a loud clang, demonstrating some of the strength his new form possessed. He did make an imposing figure now, being larger than Minion.

"Not my style but.." Megamind held his chin as he walked in a slow circle around the man. "You could use a cape, a short one."

"How about a shoulder cape?" Minion piped up from his place near the staircase that had led them down here.

"Yes, that would fit well. Make it patchwork and tattered to fit your theme. Your exhaust pipes, reorientate them to blow under or around you. The resulting fog will add an air of mystique. You've done well with the jagged edges and scorch marks but your left pauldron could use a tear or two. Oh, and shave your head."

"I don't remember asking for your advice." Trainwreck huffed, crossing his arms. "And what's wrong with my hair? Jealous I have some?"

"Excuse you" Megamind stalked up and poked the man's chest. "I'll have you know this is a choice. Anything hiding my meticulously waxed blue scalp would be a travesty." He made sure to angle his head to properly display it. "See, perfect" Trainwreck grunted and he took that as an admission and backed up. "As for yours, It's greasy and unwashed. It makes you look unprofessional. Either take care of it or lose it."

"It does sorta fit what he's going for" Minion brought out a disposable camera and the flash went off."But I agree, we can do more there. I'll workshop some ideas to compliment your look."

"Both of you fuck off. We're here to talk business, not fashion."

"Fashion is business, serious business at that." A carefully tailored image would allow you to win battles before they began. If he were to walk around in some second-rate garb every other beat cop would try their luck on him and while that was fun for a time, it tended to get dreadfully dull. "But you're right, there are more pressing matters. Did you prepare what I asked?"

"For the record, I don't appreciate rush orders. I'm charging you extra for this."

Trainwreck's large steps carried him to the side of the room. He approached a pallet and tossed something Megamind's way,

Minion reached out, snatching it out of the air before handing it to him gently. He took it up to his mouth and gave it a bite, the metallic taste assaulting his tongue. It was about right.

"And the rest?" Minion caught a few more items and passed them over.

He inspected the thin sheets of rubber, ceramic, and plastic. He layered them together with the alloy sheet.

"Minion?"

He held them out and Minion retrieved them.

"Leave it to me, sir." Minion replied, putting the conglomeration of sheets at arm's length.

Megamind took some steps back, set his gun on destroy, and gave it a short burst. A blue beam lashed out. Once it died down Minion waved his hand to get rid of the smoke.

He took them back and assessed the damage. They hadn't gone unscathed but would have protected whatever they were placed in front of.

"How soon until you can finish the order?"

He'd started the chassis of Spider Bot before he'd first encountered Trainwreck so there were sections of it using rudimentary iron. With the rebuild, he planned to layer the entire body in composite armor.

"First batch is done." He kicked the pallet. "Can't do small test batches; it's all or nothing with my setup."

Megamind approached the pallet, taking a quick inventory.

"I have some notes for the second run. What about the glass?"

Trainwreck gave a gruff and pointed to a shelf.

Megamind quickly walked to it and grabbed one of the rectangular pieces resting on it. He held it up to the light to better examine it.

"The sands a bitch. Had to filter out a bunch of crap to get it looking normal."

Most likely the low silica content and high amounts of organic carbon. Odd coincidence, Trainwreck was trying to be rid of it while Megamind had recently whipped up samples of a very specific type of carbon.

"Up the temperature, try twenty Celsius. You'll also need to cut down the time it takes to cool it. The quenching process should only take seconds to complete."

"Temperature is a no go, can't get it that precise. The cooling." Trainwreck walked over to one of the ovens made for tempering glass. He took a knee and opened up the side panel, revealing its inner workings "Yeah, I can get it done quicker."

Megamind poked his head in from the side, Trainwreck's bulk making it difficult to see anything.

Hands reached from behind him and hoisted him up by his armpits.

"Thank you Minion." With his higher vantage point, he gave the machine a look over.

Trainwreck's face turned, eyes traveling up and down his body. He finished with an unimpressive look.

"What? I'll have you know I'm average height."

"In what country?"

Malaysia, India, Bahrain…

"That's not important." Things like stature could be handled with clever camera positioning, lightning, or the most recent addition to his arsenal, projections. "Look there. Minion let me down" He dropped to the floor and Trainwreck backed up, giving him some space. He couldn't claim to understand the function of every piece in the machine but he knew enough to see a bottleneck. "You're putting too much pressure on. Never mind, it will be easier to fix it myself." He retrieved some tools and started disassembling the unit.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"I didn't-fuck it. You better not break anything." His plasma torch drowned out the sounds of Trainwreck's grumbles and he set about cutting apart the monstrosity. The deeper he went the more cobbled-together things appeared. As he made minor alterations the rest of the design became that much clearer. He had to backtrack on a few changes after realizing the unintended effects it would have on the greater whole.

He kept his mind from straying too much and focused on improving temperature regulation and only that. Although, if he reconfigured the…no. Just the temperature. It didn't matter how quickly he could get a double-digit boost in efficiency.

"There." He stood up, dusting himself off. He'd not only added the functionality needed to better moderate the temperature but had also managed to limit the number of detours needed to get there. "You can handle the rest right?"

Trainwreck didn't move, his eyes glued on the oven.

"Is anyone home?" Megamind snapped his fingers in front of the man. "Minion try shaking him."

"I'm not sure that's a great idea sir..."

"I'm fine. Was thinking." Trainwreck's gauntlet reached out to adjust a valve but fell short. His gaze fell to his fingers and Megamind could see the problem. With their size, the damage they would cause to the surrounding components outweighed the benefit of whatever Trainwreck was trying to accomplish.

"I thought you were going to keep the smaller set for work?"

"I did, they're being worked on right now." Trainwreck crossed his overly-sized arms and looked to the side, not meeting his eyes. "And either way that's not of your business. Let's talk about payment already. As I said, this is going to cost you."

Trainwreck rifled in a pouch and produced a yellowish paper.

"Here's the invoice you wanted."

Invoice? He never asked for something like that.

"Thank you" Minion received it, noticing his questioning look. "How else do you expect me to keep track of our finances?"

He'd never asked how that part of their operation was done, leaving it in Minion's capable fins.

"Huh" Minion sauntered over to one of the furnaces, using it as a table and typing into a calculator. "This is more than I budgeted for. We might have to rob a few more banks at this rate."

"Hold that thought Minion." Megamind approached one of the furnaces, tracing its exhaust pipe. "Where do these lead?"

Trainwreck looked dissatisfied at his leading tone.

"Think I'm stupid? Already thought of the exhaust problem, it's why I only run them at night when you can't see shit."

"I see, I see." He nodded along. "These are all steam-powered like the rest of your work, right? Where are you getting that, you know cities track those sorts of things."

"Got it all covered." Trainwreck's face shifted to a confident smile. "Didn't take much to hit groundwater, I have a pump feeding it to everything. And before your nosy ass asks, I rigged a bunch of car batteries together and got a turbine charging them. That feeds into the lights and electrical crap."

Megamind gave a slow clap, carefully timing each one to make it impossible to tell when it was meant to end.

"Oh wow, you've truly thought of everything." He spoke in an exaggerated voice. "I'm very impressed. Minion, pay the man."

"Okay" At one point Minion had donned a green visor. "So with both shipments, minus the supplied materials, the total comes out to."

"One last thing" He interrupted Minion's final calculations. "What did you do about the heat?"

"The what?" Trainwreck's tone conveyed his confusion.

"The heat from all the exhaust, with everything running it must generate a lot. I bet it gets sweltering in here."

"It's manageable, I vent in fresh air to keep it breathable."

"Yes, but the heat itself. Where does it go?"

"Outside, right above us…" Trainwreck swung a gauntlet and the sound of crushed metal signaled the loss of one of the furnaces. "Shit. I even went through the trouble of hiding the pipes." He whirled on Megamind. "This is your fault. I wouldn't be doing all this if you didn't need so much of the crap."

"Ha, my fault? I'm not the one who failed to properly disperse their thermal signature."

Trainwreck bristled and took a heavy step forward. His gauntlets closed together and the high-pitched sound of steam escaping was heard.

Minion's laugh cut through the rising tension.

"Took us a while to get it right. Didn't it sir? I remember in the beginning Metro Man used to find our lairs almost immediately."

"Hmm, I suppose it did take us some time to iron out all the kinks." He reminisced on all the trial and error he had to go through when learning how to hide something from the hero.

Embarrassingly, he hadn't figured out how many types of vision Metro Man possessed. It led him to cover more bases than he probably needed to do but he was nothing if not thorough.

"Like Minion said, I'm an old hand at lair building. I'll help you shore up some of your deficiencies but in exchange…"

"You want a cut-rate." Trainwreck spit in a hand and held it out with a crooked grin, "Fair enough, shake on it."

Megamind eyed the protruding limb. He wasn't aware of this sort of local custom. He gestured for Minion to do it in his place who held up his arms and took a step back, shaking his head.

Right, it would be hard for him to spit.

With a slight grimace, he copied Trainwreck's actions and shook the gauntlet. There was a slimy residue that extended when their hands parted. Minion would have to give this glove a deep wash when they returned.

"Another thing, if you're hurting for scratch I might have a solution. Had some guys sniffing around here lately, went to run them off but they weren't the average sort." He pointed to some of the scorch marks on his suit. He'd thought them purely an aesthetic choice. "Turns out they work for some local big wig. Made me an offer."

Trainwreck turned, inspecting the damage he'd done to the furnace. From Megamind's view, it looked mostly cosmetic.

"Told them to shove it but it's not a bad deal. I'd get a retainer, which would essentially be paying me to sit on my ass. Some cushy bonus deals if I pull jobs for them. Even offered to get me what I needed to build new shit."

"Are you trying to offer us employment?" Megamind asked, his tone laced with incredulity.

"Nah, I'm saying someone else might be. They wanted me to pass the message and paid me for it to boot."

"Pass a message back then, we're not for sale. Isn't that right Minion?"

"How much- I mean what the boss said. We're our own villains."

"Figured you'd say that. You two don't seem the type to follow someone else's lead. Either way, there was another offer they had. Wanted to see about buying tech. Weren't interested in what I had but your stuff looks shinier so you might have better luck."

"They wanted to buy my things? No no no." He made an x with his arms. "Not a chance. I'm a supervillain, not some craft shop you can buy custom orders from. Besides, I'll need everything to maintain the pressure on the abb."

"They're called the ABB."

The second time he could write off as a coincidence, but this was the third instance of someone trying to correct him.

"How sure are you on that?

"On second thought, either name is used. Maybe. Well, don't much care what they're called. Take this."

Trainwreck, still focused on the furnace, held out a plain white business card which Minion retrieved

"That's my part. Whatever you decide is on you. Not that I give a shit one way or another, but why are you going after those fuckers. After some territory?"

"Hardly." Megamind rolled his eyes at the notion something as small as that would drive him. "It's about respect or their lack of it. Since they didn't give it freely I have to take it."

"I understand respect, good a reason as any to pick a fight." There was a low rumble as Trainwreck chuckled. "So you're planning to give them a bloody nose to let them know you mean business."

Megamind vigorously shook his head.

"You're thinking too small." It was a frequent enough occurrence with others. "Too in the box. Use some imagination, consider the possibilities."

"I don't think that was ever one of my strengths."

Even without seeing his face, Megamind could feel the scowl it now sported. In a random bout of magnanimity, he decided to impart some of his plan. The broad strokes that is, he didn't want to spoil the whole thing.

Trainwreck faced him and was silent for a while, looking conflicted.

"What? Did I miss something?"

He wasn't opposed to criticism when it came to the details of his planning. Minion certainly gave quite a bit and while most of the time he overruled his input, there was the occasional gold nugget found.

"Probably but that's not what I'm on about. I've been trying to decide if you're mad or a genius. I finally figured it out. You're plain old crazy."

—

"The nerve of him, to call me of all people crazy?" Megamind mumbled while looking through a set of binoculars at the street below. He was covered by a tarp and no ordinary one. Using the glass he recently acquired, he'd fashioned a rudimentary optical camo tarp. It wasn't as adaptive as the invisible car but worked well when he was stationary. "There is no hope for the local villain community if they all react that way, isn't that right Minion?"

"This is different to what we usually do" Minion responded with a soft voice. They were laid on the roof beside one another.

"Oh, where was that talk when I let you fight those heroes?"

"Nowhere sir, ignore me." Minion made a commendable backtrack. "I'm just a little nervous."

"Don't be Minion. Although they should have been here already. What voice did you use for the phone call?"

"Old lady number three."

"That shouldn't be a problem then. It's worked well in the past" He whispered back and settled in to wait a little longer.

Soon, the sounds of sirens were heard in the distance. The noise cut off as they got closer but he could now see the green and white lights of a black van rolling down the street. He'd been expecting another cop car but it seemed the prt had taken the bait this time.

He watched closely, thumb ready on the remote. At the right moment, he clicked it and the image of Oni Lee appeared in the van's path. The driver swerved out of the way and an explosion brushed up against it, rocking the vehicle. There was shouting as people and equipment poured out of the vehicle.

They wouldn't find anything aside from explosive residue and traces of white-carbon ash.

"Let's go" He pressed the recall button on the Spider Mite that he jerry-rigged a holo emitter to. Calling it that was a stretch, it was fashioned out of what must have been defunct movie theatre equipment and only capable of a single inert projection. "We have more patrols to intercept."

It was going to be a long night. They wouldn't engage them all, only the ones he thought they could remain undetected from. He didn't want to give the game away.

Phase one had yet to be complete but there was no rule saying he couldn't get a headstart on phase two.

They were going to make the abb the most feared gang in the city.