Chapter 1

Smoke and sparks flew everywhere. Nathan Hendrickson coughed and shielded his face from a sudden burst of sparks. He crouched behind some cargo to try and clear his head.

He went over what he knew so far, trying to ignore all the alarms and noises coming from the ship around him.

1. The starship eclipse had been attacked. 2. The attackers where the infamous alien race, the Dushrah. 3. The captain and most of the crew had been taken captive. 4. Those of them that hadn't been taken where hiding and running for their lives. 5. They'd be slaves to the Dushrah forever unless one of them could make it back to the bridge to send out the universal distress signal. Then, maybe, by some miraculous chance, the distress signal would make it back to earth in time, and they'd send a rescue party.

Nathan shook his head. The odds were against them, but he had to try. There was a service shaft nearby, for the engineers, that he could use to get to the bridge if he only could get by the Dushrah sentry at the end of...

"You aren't thinking of trying something stupid, are you?" A quiet voice said in Nathan's ear. The young pilot felt his heart leap into his throat and turned quickly. His hand shot to his gun holster. Quicker than he could react, a hand grasped his wrist, keeping him from drawing it. Nathan gasped and looked at the face that the voice belonged to.

"Careful, or you might hurt someone you don't intend to." The man's face was scrunched in an expression of reproach.

"Commander Cumberback!" Nathan hissed, staring at the gray-haired man crouching next to him. "You nearly frightened the life out of me."

Cumberback smirked apologetically. "Sorry. You looked like you were going to try something stupid. I thought I'd save you the trouble. You were planning on climbing through the service shafts, weren't you? It wouldn't have worked. The Dushrah have all the systems hacked. There are surveillance cameras and motion sensors inside."

Nathan frowned but didn't reply. He mentally slapped himself for not thinking of that, and at the moment, hated Cumberback for being so smart. Of course, they have control of the surveillance by now.

"Don't worry," Cumberback said. "There are other ways. This ship wasn't originally a government vessel. She still has a few tricks up her sleeves." The commander smiled slightly. "If we can get past the Dushrah guard, there's a hidden emergency shaft leading to the engine room. We can send a distress signal from there, and then we can loop back around, and see if we can spring the captain. They haven't taken him far yet."

Nathan nodded. "Do you have any weapons?"

"I have the plasma sword, and all my usuals," Cumberback replied.

Nathan nodded. "I have my gun and my arm."

Cumberback nodded, acknowledging Nathan's cybernetic arm. "We have no time to waste." The commander said, glancing around, wearily. "Let's go."

Megamind stepped back to admire his latest invention. The teleportation watch. By modifying his holo-watch, he now had (at least in theory) the ability to teleport anywhere in the city. And if this test proved positive, perhaps anywhere in the country. A wide grin spread across Megamind's blue face. In about twenty minutes, Minion would walk in with a blindfolded and totally clueless Roxanne, and Megamind would whisk her off to an undisclosed location. They were celebrating a year since Titan had been defeated, and he had a special plan in mind. All he had left to do was some minor adjustments, and then it should be done.

Megamind strapped the watch around his gloved wrist and smiled. He really didn't need to test it. He knew it would work, just like all his inventions, but, he thought, he might as well, knowing that Minion would have a fit if he didn't. It always bothered the fish when he didn't test his inventions before using them.

"What if one day your calculations are off, Sir?" Minion had said, time and time again. Megamind chuckled at the thought. His calculations had never been wrong before, and he told minion so, to witch the fish replied, with agitation, "Someday, you'll get yourself killed."

So, for Minion's sake, he'd test this before actually taking Roxanne with him.

He set the coordinance to just outside evil lair. No need to go far; just enough to make Minion happy. Then, he pressed the activation button.

He felt a slight tingling feeling, and the world around him faded to grey. Then, he found himself standing with his face toward the secret entrance of the lair. Perfect, he thought, Now I can get back to work.

He was about to press the recall button, to teleport back inside, when something hit him in the back of his head, hard. With a cry, he fell forward. His head hit the ground, sending shooting pain throughout his skull. He heard his watch activate. He quickly looked at the face of the watch, wondering what button he had accidentally pressed. It was cracked, and there was a red ERROR light blinking. To his horror, he saw the words 'Emergency teleportation' appear. Before he could react, the world around him began to gray.

Nathan ran forward and tackled the Dushrah from behind. The reptilian figure shrieked in surprise and clawed at his arm that was around its throat. But the alien's claws were useless against Nathan's titanium plated cybernetic arm.

Cumberback burst from his hiding place and aimed one of his odd gadgets at the alien, firing. The alien fell, stunned. Nathan let go, allowing the reptilian figure to slump all the way to the floor.

An alarm started blaring. Cumberback cursed. "They must have heard him shriek," He said quickly, motioning toward the limp figure on the floor. "They'll alert the whole area of our presence. We need to go-..." Cumberback gaged suddenly and clutched at his head.

"Commander Cumberback?" Nathan asked, confusion and worry filling him. Cumberback was breathing hard. "John," Nathan said, using Cumberback's first name. "Are you okay?"

Cumberback gasped. "Something... something's pulling at me..."

Nathan knelt down by him, fearing the Dushrah had realized Cumberback was not, in fact, human. He was part of an alien race called Pygairians, that looked remarkably similar to humans (aside from the piercing grey eyes, and the shaggy grey hair, he looked like any other ordinary human), and unfortunately, they were extremely sensitive to psychic attacks.

"It doesn't feel like a telepathic attack..." Cumberback muttered after a moment. "...Its...Warm. Inviting-..." Cumberback tensed, and then took a deep breath, shaking his head. "Anyway... We need to get the engineering deck. Come on." Cumberback led Nathan down the corridor. They rounded the next corner, and Cumberback jumped back in surprise.

Several Dushrah stood in front of them. They looked equally surprised to see a Human and Pygairian in front of them, as Cumberback was to see them. Almost instantly, Cumberback whipped out a thin metal device, and with a flick of his wrist, a shimmering green blade extended.

The Dushrah charged them. Cumberback did his best to hold them off, but Nathan could see whatever it was that had messed with his mind was weakening him. Nathan was soon overtaken by the two Dushrah that attacked him. And Cumberback wasn't far behind. They pinned him to the wall, and, in spite of his struggles, he could not escape.

As soon as they were caught, a larger Dushrah came into view. It grinned, showing off fangs. "Put them with the others," It said.

The Dushrah that were holding them started roughly pulling them along the passageway. Nathan didn't bother struggling; The Dushrah could crush him if they wanted.

Suddenly, the Dushrah holding Cumberback cried out in alarm and let go of the Pygairian. Nathan saw there was a blue glow around the Commander. Cumberback looked at Nathan in alarm and surprise.

Quickly, the blue engulfed Cumberback, and then it faded. Nathan and the Dushrah stared.

Finally, Nathan said, in a low voice, "Where, in the seven galaxies, did he go?

Megamind woke in the familiar surroundings of Evil Lair. the first thing he noticed was a throbbing pain behind his eyes, and he was lying on the cold, hard floor. He could feel his bare hands resting on the floor. That confused him.

He blinked, trying to remember what had happened. Had his invention exploded, knocking him out? When and why would he have taken his gloves off? He certainly didn't remember taking them off. As a matter of fact, he didn't remember much at all. He looked around the room for anything that might clue him in on what had happened. His eyes rested on the dark shape on the floor. It looked familiar. The black cape, the spiky gloves and shin guards, the large blue head...

Suddenly, it hit Megamind with a sting worse than a brain bot bite.

He was staring at his own body, limp, on the floor.