"Hand over the money, nobody do anything…do I have to say this?"

Megamind leaned to the side and checked the teleprompter to see if there was something wrong with it.

There wasn't.

"What's the problem? We worked very hard workshopping this"

Canary stood on an x. At a glance, she hardly resembled the girl from before. A night's rest, new clothes, a shower, and neatly combed hair all added to it. Only at a glance though. A closer look revealed the same lost bird, away from the nest for the first time.

She took a deep breath and then released it slowly.

"Hand over the money, nobody do anything…cuckoo…."

"Cut." Megamind rose from his chair while waving his arms. "Cut, cut, cut." He stopped in front of the girl who wilted. "What was that? Where was the emotion? The presence? Where was the Canary from the stage?"

He'd been expecting much better from her. However, this was what practice was meant for. Better to get these hiccups out of the way in the lair where the public wouldn't witness them.

"I, I'm just not sure about this. Robbing people?" She shuffled her feet and rubbed her arms. Her hands traced over what was no longer there. "I'm not cut out for violence. Whenever I see blood I get all woozy, I can't do it."

"With your powers, you shouldn't have to worry about that." Her aversion was silly. He was sure it would fade away once she got a taste of true villainy. "And we can always work on alternatives."

He was planning on reviewing options for those later. Apart from basic self-defense, the gear should augment her gifts instead of overshadowing them. She needed to be her own villain.

"Now." He clapped to gain her attention, she had a habit of getting lost in her head. "Let me hear your villain laugh."

She gave a slight nod and let out, what could best be described as, a minor chuckle.

"No." He stopped the travesty from continuing. "Watch closely."

He shifted to face the imaginary audience and closed his eyes. He placed an open palm in front of his face and counted down.

"Muwahahahahaha!" His eyes shot went open and he swung his arms outward. A textbook definition of a deep-belly villainous cackle bellowed through the lair. Satisfied with its length, he turned with the customary victorious smile on his face. The girl had taken a few steps back. She must have wanted to give him space to work with. "Now you try. Have fun with it."

He gave a slight bow and waved her forward, leaving the floor to her.

"Mu-whaha?" Her voice was melodic but weak.

"Better." It was not hard to improve on her first attempt. "But it's not a question. It's a statement of intent." He could see the meaning of his words be lost on her. Wasn't laughing supposed to improve one's mood? This wasn't working. Taking a villain under his wing was proving more difficult than he thought. "Why don't we put this on hold for now? We have some power testin-"

"Havemyparentsmessagedbackyet," She rambled out without breathing. "I mean, you sent the message, right? Have you heard anything?"

He'd not been looking forward to this question but answered regardless.

"I have but no response." She wilted and he quickly added. "If it makes you feel better I'll send a follow-up. They might have thought the first one was spam."

He could sympathize with her, he often wished he could ask his parents what they meant to say before they parted.

"What about everyone else? I'm guessing people are talking about me?"

He'd restricted her online access. It would be restored once she was on firmer ground.

"Less than you'd think." He gave a blatant lie.

The press related to her breakout had dwarfed his expectations. It ran on all news cycles. It made him consider getting captured himself. He'd read the articles and had a brief foray online to get a lay of the land. The prt had been sparse on the details, only saying that a third party had assisted in the escape.

However, footage had leaked of him acting as the prt trooper and there were anonymous testimonials that some employees had been acting strangely that day. What they meant by that he couldn't say. His acting was impeccable.

Still, the leaks led to rampant speculation by the public. With how things currently were, he would not be sharing most of what was said.

"I think you'll be pleased to learn they might raise your rating." People like higher numbers, don't they? "They had you at something of a Master 8 but, according to what I've read, that may be bumped up."

The look on her face told him people did not always like higher numbers.

"Forget what I said. Let's get back to power testing." Keep her moving. "Come, follow me. Over here."

He urged her when she was slow to act.

In a corner of the lair sat what had started life as a phone booth. He didn't know if that was its genuine purpose or if it was some sort of prop but it was now equipped with an array of sensors and recording devices.

"Step inside." He swung the door open. "This should give me enough readings to get an idea of how your power works. Then I can tailor equipment for it."

She remained rooted in place, staring at the booth. He didn't like the look in her eyes.

"Or we can do it out here. One moment." He ducked inside and started carefully removing what he could. He'd not get everything he was hoping for but some data points were better than no data points. "You're going to have to stand a little close to it." He said after finishing with the quick alteration. There was only so much slack on some of these cables.

"Okay." She neared and hesitantly poked the most obvious microphone. "What do you want me to do? Do I just sing in here? Anything specific?"

"Whatever you want. I want a range so do more than one"

Canary gave another nod, this one was firmer than the first. Her mouth opened and he righted his head protection from where it had sagged slightly. He wasn't sure if it was even necessary but that was the benefit of testing. Some of the tension could visibly be seen to bleed out of her as she continued her song.

Megamind motioned for her to continue and paced to his terminal, bringing up the data feed. Hmmm, some of the readings did look out of the norm but they weren't outlandish. In her own words, her power made people more likely to do what she said.

"How is she doing sir?" Minion poked his head over Megamind's shoulder, looking at the data. "That looks promising."

He stopped analyzing the feed and turned to Minion. Studying his fishy face for a moment.

"You don't have a clue of what any of this means do you?"

"Nope!" Minion shamelessly admitted while standing straight. "But it sounded like something you'd say."

Imitation was flattery, not that he needed it.

"Well, to answer your question. She's still adjusting. She'll come around."

It had been less than a day, she just needed time.

"I'm sure you're right, like always sir."

He had to be.

"From your presence, I'm guessing your drafts are done?" Minion had been hard at work on getting his designs done.

"I have." Minion waved the sketchbook. Megamind reached out only to have it brought out of his reach. "Ah, ah, ah. No peeking sir."

"Minion, I'll have to design part of it to begin with." He was conscious that he was far sturdier than the locals. He'd need to make sure her costume had added protections. It would be embarrassing if his cadet villain was taken out by something as mundane as a gun. "Hand it over."

Minion's mechanical hand pushed on Megamind's face, keeping him at length.

"I can't do that. You know what they say about seeing a villain's costume before their debut."

"I am." He stopped to do mental calculations. "93% certain that's not a thing." Something came to the forefront of his memory. "You're thinking of wedding gowns! Your memory is being scrambled by all those soaps you watch."

Minion rested one arm on top of the other in a thinking pose.

"Huh, I might have confused those two." Minion snapped his fingers and pointed towards their living quarters. "By the way. The TV's been even more on the fritz since we got back."

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

Hadn't he written a note about parental controls for the internet? That needed to be extended to TV time.

"Harry probably messed with it." The man had also cleared out the fridge and not taken out the trash. "I'll take a look once we're done with everything. Now stop distracting me and let me read this." He'd check out the designs later.

Megamind jotted down some observations and eventually, the singing stopped.

A thought occurred to him and he left his seat to go back to where Canary was standing awkwardly.

"Canary, tell Minion to do something." He wondered if the effects would work on Minion's biology. He suspected not but confirmation was nice.

"Uh, okay." She turned to Minion who was looking on curiously. "Stand on one leg?"

Minion did so without hesitation. Meanwhile, Megamind hesitated to call that conclusive evidence. He whispered in the girl's ear and she looked at him strangely before consenting.

"Say Jessica should be with Ralph."

Minion gave a loud gasp.

"Never! Jessica is a temptress. Andrea is his true love. Also, don't forget that Jessica is technically his step-aunt. Legally, it would never work. Unless…no!" Minion's hands covered his face in astonishment. "She slept with that lawyer in season 3. Could that have been foreshadowing but that would mean…"

"Minion, focus." It was clear her power didn't affect him so that was one less worry. "I believe there was something you wanted to ask."

"Oh right." Minion blinked and bobbed up and down in his tank. "How are you settling in with the rest of the girls? Do you have everything you need?"

He'd been alluding to the costume ideas.

"They're…nice I guess?" Canary said in a questioning tone. "They like my singing. It helps with. Well, it just helps. The last bit I recorded was a lullaby one of them taught me."

That explained why he hadn't recognized the language. Bonding with her minions was important, she needed to be able to trust them to have her back.

"There are a couple of things we could use." She said with some conviction leaking into her voice, straightening out her slouched posture. "To make the place more homey."

"No problem," Minion answered for him. "Make a list and the boss and I will see about getting it."

The change in demeanor intrigued him. It was the most confident he'd seen her outside of recordings.

—

"Don't touch that!" Megamind snatched the innocuous teddy bear from Canary's grasp. "This is, well it doesn't matter. Just keep your hands to yourself. Some of my creations can be temperamental."

He placed the doll back on the work table, carefully not tugging on the cord attached to its back. It was far too sensitive, he'd have to tone it down.

"I didn't mean to," Canary replied sheepishly. "I was curious."

Was she a cat or a bird?

"It's fine, just be careful." He'd rushed out concept pieces in less than a day and had invited her over to collect feedback before he put any further work in. They'd gone slightly beyond his initial parameters. "Remember these are prototypes. Rough prototypes at that. So they may not function exactly as advertised." Or at all.

"They are safe right?" She asked a valid if wholly unnecessary question.

"Yes, they're mostly harmless."

The mostly was doing some heavy lifting but she didn't need to know that.

"Now, first thought I had." He lifted a pair of glittering wings off a table. He'd found a large deposit of discarded Halloween costumes. Many of them had wings which gave him the idea. He'd tried to make them pretty, people tended to like wearing those types of things. "As a bird, you should have the power of flight. With these, you should be able to glide and I can add boosters to give you a spring up."

Canary looked at the wings and then at him.

"I-I don't have to tell you what's wrong with this do I?"

"They look shoddy right now." He knew his aesthetic sense was abnormal but he'd made these with that in mind… "but I need you to look past that a moment and consider the idea itself."

"Oh my god, I have to spell it out." Canary put a hand to her temple, looking strained. "People already compare me to the Simurgh. If put this on…it's like putting a sign around my chest."

That name had popped up a couple of times.

"I get. You don't want to coast on someone else's reputation-"

"It's a fucking Endbringer!" Canary yelled with balled fists, the outburst seemed to catch her off guard and she took some steps back with her hands held up. "Sorry, I didn't mean…it's just I heard it a lot during the trial. Even if they didn't outright say it."

Endbringer was another term he'd come across frequently. Some sort of giant monsters. It was probably the result of some less competent evil genius, none of his concern.

"No wings." He agreed, even if it ruled out a large portion of his ideas. Megamind plucked one of the more obvious choices. "Your voice is your power so naturally we need to make sure everyone hears it." He flipped the switch on what was once a megahorn. "Testing"

"Did, did I hear that in my head?" Her fearful voice told him he might have made another error in judgment.

"No, that would be far more complicated." He moved to ease her assumption. "I ported over my translation software and changed the frequency of the output so that it sounds like it's coming from inside your head."

"No." Her fearful look transitioned to one of exasperation. "Because again. Fucking Endbringer. I would think you're doing this on purpose if you weren't so…"

"So what?" He hadn't the foggiest idea what she was alluding to.

"Never mind." She looked away. "Can't we just make my voice louder?"

"I can but there's a limit. At a certain point, the sound quality degrades enough so that they can't hear you clearly. We could also risk blowing out their eardrums. Then you won't be able to issue orders." A thought came to him. "We could always weaponize that. I could make it directional and you could use it to incapacitate people. If I crank it up a notch, it could be used to shatter objects like-"

"Don't." Canary held up a hand. "Don't say glass."

"I was going to say." He stealthily looked around. "Plastic?"

She looked like she had swallowed some of Harry's cooking.

"Okay, how about purely defensive then? Your power takes some time to kick in and you don't want to be knocked out early. Properly trained and equipped minions should stop that from happening but backup plans are always needed." He grabbed a leafblower and flipped the switch, causing it to glow. "Now I scaled this down for demonstration purposes but birds are also known for wind. Watch." A small whirlwind of brightly colored wind created a circle from where it was expelled. "The wind will surround you and stop anyone from getting too close. It should be strong enough to stop projectiles. Don't worry about running out of oxygen, I'll add reserves to your suit."

Canary looked on with what he thought was wonder.

Finally.

His extra care to add the color must have paid off. It was the little things that sometimes made the biggest impact.

"This one." She pointed at it. "I kinda get this one. He's in Russia and you're a…well yeah, I get it."

He watched in confusion as a smile broke out on her face. It was the first since rescuing her. Laughter began low and muffled. Her restraint slowly crumbled and soon she was clutching her stomach. His started to turn. What was so funny? Were his attempts that poorly made?

"I'm sorry, it's just." Canary struggled to regain her breathing, tears in her eyes. "It's just this is so fucked. My life is so fucked. I'm in an evil lair. In one of the worst cities in the states. And then." She burst into laughter again. "And then I keep getting pitched ideas that would make me look like some S-Class threat."

The sounds began to be intermittent, threatening to disappear altogether.

"Ha," Megamind tested the waters before opening the floodgates. "Hahahahaha!"

He joined her, their voices bolstering each other. Minion's jumped in from the other side of the lair, melding into theirs. He didn't quite get what was so funny but she didn't look sad anymore.