Megamind strained against the bonds. He was bound upright to a board, his wrists shackled to each corner above his head, a strap around his chest, and his ankles lashed together. The chest strap prevented his full weight from dragging at his wrists, a small mercy, but that wasn't the real problem.

The air around him pulsed with unseen energies, energies that were invisible, but nonetheless bore down upon his mind with the weight of a boulder, slowly crushing him.

"It's useless to resist," said Brainiax mildly. "You might as well give up." The veins in his bald pink head throbbed in concert with the psychic pulses he directed at the other supervillain.

"Never," Megamind said through gritted teeth. Tendons stood out on his neck and sweat dripped off his chin.

Brainiax pursed his lips. Megamind must have encountered psychic attacks before, as he was actually doing a decent job of fending off Brainiax. A mental barrier within Megamind's mind stood between Brainiax and the information he sought.

For the moment. It was a fragile thing, held together by Megamind's considerable willpower, spite, and sheer stubbornness.

"You could save yourself a lot of pain if you simply tell me the location of your lair," Brainiax said. "Don't make me hurt you." He increased the psychic pressure.

Megamind gasped and threw his head back, struggling in vain to avoid the onslaught.

"Leave him alone!"

Brainiax spared a glance for his other captive. "Don't distress yourself, Miss Ritchi. You won't be harmed, I assure you. The city needs its damsel."

He gave her a conspiratorial grin. "Want to know what Megamind really thinks of you? I uncovered some very interesting emotional content before he got his defenses up. Of course, I suppose it's obvious. He came so quickly when I called to inform him you were in my clutches."

"Go to hell," Miss Ritchi said. "Why are you doing this?"

"To replace him, naturally. I will destroy his lair, his brainbots, his inventions, and, last but not least, his minion. All his works will be laid waste. I will leave him alive but broken, and everyone will know who's the new top supervillain in this miserable little town."

He returned his attention to the job at hand. Sharpening his mental focus, he could now see the barrier was made up of threads.

Threads, as if it were a tapestry rather than a wall as he first envisioned it.

Brainiax would pick at these threads until they fell away, leaving Megamind in despair but his mind intact. Much better than simply bursting through.

One golden thread lead away from the wall, and disappeared into the distance of the astral landscape.

Was this thread somehow strengthening Megamind's resistance?

Ah, yes, many people held powerful beliefs, or memories of loved ones, or a driving force of purpose which gave them strength in adversity. Usually they were deep in the mind's core, but this one seemed to be manifesting differently.

He shrugged. This was an alien, after all.

Mentally he reached out to touch it.

The thread went thrummmmmm.

The backwash snapped across his brow.

He fell against the table, knocking the take-out bag and fast food wrappers off. He held his hand to his chest and struggled to steady his breathing.

Megamind sagged, taking deep breaths at the reprieve. Slowly he lifted his head again and raised a single eyebrow. "Careful. You'll hurt yourself."

Brainiax's teeth clenched and his face flushed. "I can burn through your defenses with the snap of the fingers! But that might leave you a drooling, mindless wreck and I'd just as soon prefer to have your mind whole, so you'll comprehend how thoroughly I've beaten you. You can't defeat the power of my mind, 'Megamind,'" he said with a sneer, putting as much contempt as possible into that absurd name.

Megamind's lips pulled back into a sly smile. "I don't have to defeat you. I just have to hold on."

Filled with rage, Brainiax lashed out, sending a powerful blast at Megamind that made his head snap back against the board. He sagged in a faint.

"Megamind!" Roxanne cried. Furious, she snarled at Brainiax, "You monster!"

There was a distant smattering of gunfire from an upper floor.

Brainiax made a huffing noise in his throat and turned on the monitors to see what the hell was going on.

The main screen showed hundreds of brainbots, biting, snapping, and shooting lasers, scattering his henchmen in the upper galley.

The inner cameras showed something even more alarming.

Minion charged through the corridors on all fours like an enraged silverback, a gun slung over his back. A henchman ran out of a side door and lifted his rifle but Minion was already on him.

Minion didn't bother with the gun. He barely slowed down. With a sweep of his arm he swatted the man into the wall. The impact made the security camera shake. The man crumpled to the floor and didn't move. Minion barreled on.

All in complete silence. Brainiax hadn't turned on the sound.

On screen, two more henchmen guarding the inner door shouted, their mouths moving silently, and spread out across the hallway, readying their weapons.

Minion, approaching fast, realized the danger. He skidded to a halt just before he came into their view, pulled a canister out of a little pack at his waist, and threw it around the corner.

Smoke billowed from it, engulfing the henchmen.

Minion charged in, disappearing into the cloud.

Brainiax leaned closer, trying to see.

A man was thrown bodily out of the smoke. His terrified face filled the screen a split second before he hit the camera. The screen went dark.

Those stupid henchmen!

There was a loud crash outside the sanctum, making Brainiax jump.

The rapid sounds of heavy feet and knuckles hitting the floor indicated that Minion had arrived.

Brainiax regathered his powers and strode to the middle of his sanctum. He just had to remain calm, and Minion would be contained.

Minion crashed through the steel door, breaking it off its hinges, and bounded into the room, face set. He spun in his bowl, taking in the lay of the room, Roxanne tied to a chair by the wall, Megamind hanging limp under the spotlight. He sighted Brainiax and charged.

"Minion, watch out!" Roxanne cried.

Brainiax sent a psychic command at the charging cyborg.

Minion skidded to a halt, fins flaring stiffly, the robotic gorilla suit going rigid.

Brainiax let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Megamind stirred and groaned, lifting his head to gaze blearily around at the sanctum.

"Holding on? Is this what you meant?" he said, grinning. "Your lackey to come bounding to the rescue? See how easily I've brought him to heel. Perhaps it's better this way. Dismantling your faithful servant will be quite debilitating, I imagine. You haven't guarded yourself well enough. You care. Deeply. Especially for these two. A fatal flaw in a villain."

To his annoyance, Megamind didn't appear to be overcome by despair. Megamind chuckled, a dry rasping sound. "Oughta pick on somebody your own size," he mumbled. His head drooped again.

Brainiax clucked his tongue. Megamind was too dazed to fully understand that he was utterly defeated.

Feeling his heart pounding with the giddiness of pending victory, he strolled closer to the unmoving bulk of Minion, drifting silently atop the robotic body. "A remarkable piece of work, really," he said, reaching out to touch the bowl. "Such a shame that..."

Minion blinked and shook himself.

Brainiax jerked back. Minion shouldn't be able to move! He shouldn't...

Minon bared his teeth. "Oh, I get it. You're one of those." The spikes on his back rippled with light and his eyes glowed.

A sharp stab of pain hit Brainiax somewhere behind his eyes and he staggered. The walls of the room warped as if a giant fist were closing over it from the outside, and then the floor opened up and swallowed him.

Wildly he flailed, fell through unimaginable space, and landed on his hands and knees.

He stared in shock at the grass under his hands. He curled his fingers into the ground. Yes, grass.

It had to be an illusion, but Brainiax was in its grip and he couldn't override the disquieting feel of dirt getting under his nails.

Sun warmed his back. Or a type of sun, anyway.

Almost too frightened to move, he looked up into a dark blue sky shading to purple.

Gigantic, covering half the sky, Minion was at the center, glowing gold and green, his fins and tendrils waving.

Minion spoke. "And now you know what I am." His voice thundered over the land.

Brainiax flinched. "Y-yes, master," he squeaked.

A golden thread grew out of Minion, so thin against his brightness that Brainiax almost didn't recognize it at first.

"The barrier," he burst out. "Megamind's defenses were..."

"My connection with him," Minion said. "Our bond. Yes. It gave him the strength to resist your attack. You're not strong enough to even touch it." He narrowed his eyes. "You little worm."

Brainiax whimpered as heat increased, bearing down on him, driving him to fall onto his elbows and cover his head.

"Look at me," Minion said.

Brainiax didn't dare disobey, though his eyes streamed.

"Here's what's gonna happen," Minion said. "I'm taking Sir and Miss Ritchi away with me. You've got two hours to get your crap together and get out of town."

"W-what? But that's hardly enough time to..."

"Two hours. Or I'll come find you. And I won't hold back."

A disc of light formed in the air in front of Minion's forehead, and grew white-hot in terrible intensity.

Behind his back, Brainiax could hear a low howling noise, as if a powerful hurricane were building, but he didn't dare turn around, terrified of what he might see.

Brainiax flattened himself to the ground. A sensation of unending cold and darkness tugged at the corners of his mind and he knew that if Minion released his full power he would be hurled into that void and never come out again.

"Promise." Minion's voice thundered.

"I promise, I promise," Brainiax gabbled. "I'll never come back.

Minion's heightened superconsciousness was shrinking fast back into his core, there to remain dormant until needed, and he couldn't really read people's thoughts anyway, but he could still almost see the questions lining up behind Miss Ritchi's sharp blue eyes as he carefully cut through her ropes.

"What just happened?" she asked, frowning at Brainiax, who was curled up on the floor, whimpering.

Minion avoided her gaze. "Er. Um..." The last of the ropes parted, and he hurried over to Sir. Fortunately, Miss Ritchi didn't push for answers as he used a mini welder to burn through the shackles.

Megamind slumped into Minion's arms, and then managed to find his feet. "You fantastic fish, you," he said, and weakly thumped his shoulder.

Minion yearned to press their heads together out of sheer relief and gratitude that they were both alive and their bond intact, but there was no time for that. They needed to get out of there.

Minion led them back through the corridors and out of the debris-riddled bunker. The henchmen he'd knocked over were moving feebly but didn't show any interest in trying to stop them. Just in case, Minion collected their guns. The brainbots clustered around, bowg-ing happily, pleased to have driven off the nasty men and to have gotten Daddy back.

Minion drove almost all the way back to the Lair before he realized that Miss Ritchi was still in the car, seated next to him in the passenger seat.

Sir, sprawled across the back seat with his arm over his eyes, hadn't noticed either.

Minion glanced at Miss Ritchi, but she was looking out the window and giving off a vibe of innocence, as if hoping that he would conveniently forget that she wasn't supposed to know about the Lair.

Hell, he almost had. Entirely his fault.

She was probably not only memorizing the route, but was preparing to do some serious snooping.

Even if he turned around right now and brought Miss Ritchi back to her place, nothing would stop her from returning to the area and conducting her own search.

I could kick myself, he thought, but was unable to muster up any real chagrin over this security breach. It felt so natural to have her there. Oh, well. Maybe it was time that she and Sir quit this silly charade anyway.

Minion pulled into the Lair. Megamind staggered out of the car, went forward a few paces, and stopped short at the sight of Roxanne, standing by the open car door and with her hand on her hip.

He fingered his cape, his face twisted in a nervous grimace. Minion could read his body language, and that was almost as good as mind-reading. Sir felt embarrassed, his pride had been hurt, and what was worse, he couldn't even take refuge in his villainous persona, not after having been so foolishly captured and tormented in front of her.

"Miss Ritchi, I'd appreciate it if you didn't..." He fluttered a hand around to encompass the great echoing space, the floating brainbots, and the tarp-covered machines looming against the walls.

Roxanne nodded. "Oh! Of course. I won't wander around. Are you sure you're all right?"

Megamind straightened his shoulders, and then winced and closed his eyes. "Except for this unbelievable headache." He headed for the sofa. "Tylenol, Minion. And a donut."

As Minion escorted Miss Ritchi he watched her out of the corner of his eye, pleased that, except for a few cursory glances at the mechanisms they passed, she seemed to be more concerned for Megamind as he collapsed onto the dilapidated sofa.

Minion set up a folding chair. "Sorry we don't have anything more comfortable, Miss Ritchi," he murmured. "We don't get company."

"At least it's not the kidnapping chair," she said.

Minion blushed. He'd almost snagged that one, actually. "Um, I'm gonna get some tea."

Megamind groaned without moving his arm from over his eyes, "Ucch, not tea. Tylenol. Donut."

"You can have that, too, Sir," Minion said with some exasperation. He hurried away, feeling Miss Ritchi's eyes boring into him as he left.

Water had never taken so long to boil. By the time he returned with the tray, Megamind was sitting up, and Roxanne had taken a seat on the other end of the sofa, her legs curled up under her.

Megamind was trying not to look sheepish. "Um, I mentioned that...what happened... might be better explained by you."

Minion set the tray down, sure that his cheeks were turning dark green. He handed the pill bottle and a water glass to Sir.

"Yeah, what happened down in that bunker?" Roxanne asked. "One minute you were a statue, the next minute, Brainiax screams and curls up in the fetal position."

Minion shrugged, ducking his little body in bashfulness. "Oh, you know. My defense mechanism kicked in. My psychic defenses and counterattack is activated only at specific times. Only good against other psychics, really."

"Can you read minds?" she asked.

"No. Not at all. Well, if I take another psychic into my...my realm on the astral plane..."

He paused. Astral plane! It sounded so hokey, like he was some fortune-telling hack with a 1-800 number, but she didn't interrupt, fortunately, and continued to look at him with an expression of alert interest.

He ducked down a little lower into his bowl. He wasn't used to thinking it was anything special, it was just part of the package of being Sir's guardian.

"And...there...in my realm, I can talk to them mind to mind, and sort of, you know, bring the hammer down."

"Wow, that's amazing. I never would have suspected."

Minion waved his hands and smiled, pleased with the praise despite himself. "Oh, gosh. You're just saying that."

"Don't be so modest," Megamind said. "If I could do that I'd never let anybody forget it."

Now they were both gazing at him fondly. Oh, it was too much. Minion wriggled, grinning foolishly. He coughed. "You know, Sir, you really shouldn't have taken off so quickly. You gotta be more careful."

Roxanne turned her laser-like scrutiny on Megamind, much to Minion's relief. "Yes, you jumped right in, didn't you?" she said. "It was almost heroic."

Megamind froze in the act of chewing a pastry. Then he sniffed. "Heroic my foot. I can't have other supervillains invading my turf."

"Your turf? I am not, nor will I ever be, anything that resembles a landscape."

"Oh ho ho ho, I beg to differ! You are an inescapable factor in my villainous agenda, among other things."

"What other things would that be? And what was Brainiax saying about 'very interesting emotional content'? Hm?"

"What-? You-! I can't believe you're holding that against me!" Megamind said, blustering. "He must have...have misunderstood."

"Well, why don't you explain it to me then," Miss Ritchi said, smiling brightly.

"I don't see that I have to explain anything," Megamind said.

Minion smiled and, humming a little tune, cleaned crumbs off the table while the argument went on around him. This was perfect. You didn't have to be psychic to see that Sir and Miss Ritchi belonged together.