Eye of the Storm, Chapter One

It looked like the kind of night that no girl should have been out alone, yet there she was. It must have been three or four o'clock in the morning, which was dangerous enough on its own, but the state of ruin that the city found itself in made matters even worse. Several buildings have collapsed to the ground, others looked like they were about to, and firefighters were still busy putting out "Tightenville" in the downtown area after the second "i" had sparked a very serious fire. Nevertheless, Chloe felt quite confident out here, alone, with nothing but Metro Man's crumbled statue to keep her company.

Today had been a very interesting day. The night before, the super-powered maniac Tighten (What a completely nonsensical name to choose for oneself, Chloe thought) had flown amok through the city and was entirely responsible for leaving it this way. With their beloved hero, Metro Man, dead, hope was nowhere to be found among the citizens, but with the new day came a most unexpected turn of events: the man previously known as a despicable genius of evil unparalleled… actually came to the rescue… and won. Citizens didn't hesitate for a moment before accepting Megamind as their new hero, and the news of Tighten's defeat traveled like wildfire to the suburbs and anywhere else that people have fled to.

Chloe herself had no need to seek refuge during Tighten's rampage, as her tiny apartment was in that area of the city that was far too removed from downtown for the young and successful and their flourishing social lives, and yet far too cluttered with run-down apartment buildings, garages, and cheap foreign fast-food restaurants for any respectable family to settle down in either. Once the initial reports started coming in about Tighten's defeat and Megamind's supposed turn to the "light side," Chloe was skeptical, but like most every other citizen of Metro City, she made the trip downtown in time to join the loud, overjoyed procession that followed the police car delivering Tighten to Metro City Prison for the Criminally Gifted. She envied the reporters flooding the streets, interviewing eyewitnesses, policemen, and trying with no success to track down Megamind, Roxanne Ritchi, and the suited-up fish, Minion. They, to everyone's disappointment, were a no-show. The celebrations throughout the streets continued all through the morning, the day, the evening, and late into the night, and it was only now that Chloe was finally, completely, alone.

The reason for her being here, on a basic level, was to simply relax and think. She had only lived in this city for a month, one month, yet it had proven to be the most absolutely unbelievably ridiculous month of her life. First there was the job hunt and moving into her new apartment, then Megamind's takeover, and then Tighten; but finally it seemed like things were going to get back to normal… except, of course, for the job part, because it was kind of hard to work in a building that has been leveled to its concrete foundations. Yes, she had gotten a job at the Metro Man museum one week prior to the grand opening, but, due first to the construction being done there, then to Megamind running the city, and then finally to the museum being destroyed altogether, she had not been called in for a single work shift. Thank goodness for paying rent in advance.

Her only connection to her career remained through the cell phone number of her superior, the museum curator, one Bernard Nadler. Sadly, every single one of her attempts to contact him following the destruction of the museum proved futile, except for the one time a male voice answered with a breathless, "Roxanne?" before frantically hanging up as she began to contest his question. So, as far as Chloe knew, Bernard could very well have been dead.

Chloe had been sitting on a piece of Metro Man wreckage, maybe the tip of one of his fingers or something similarly rounded, with her elbows on her knees, and her chin in her hands, looking out over the empty square before her, basking in the complete silence. She had long since lost track of time as she wondered whether she should try to make it home or stay here until the fast-approaching morning and see if perhaps Bernard or somebody else who worked at the museum would arrive.

She nearly dozed off before footfalls suddenly brought her back to reality. She whipped her head around, nearly knocking the glasses off of her nose, and listened. Yes, there were definitely footsteps coming from the other side of the rubble behind her, three distinct sets: two light, and one much heavier. Curiosity being one of her more distinguished vices, she couldn't resist the urge to get up and investigate. She slunk along giant chunks of dusty concrete, making sure to stay out of sight of the strangers, until she was about as close as she could get to them without being seen. She could not see who the people were, but she was near enough now to clearly make out what they were saying.

"Be careful, Minion," said a female voice. "That is not a bag of potatoes you're carrying."

"I'm sorry, Miss Ritchi," replied a male voice in a hushed whisper, "but I'm honestly trying to be as careful as I can."

"Be quiet, you two," snapped a deeper male voice. "If somebody sees us… let's just say it would not help this new hero image of mine."

Chloe had to repress a gasp as she realized just who exactly she was spying on. "Minion" and "Miss Ritchi" were a dead give-away, and she could certainly guess whom the third voice belonged to… Megamind.

"Okay, here is good," said Megamind, and the shuffling footsteps came to a halt.

"Put him down carefu-" began Roxanne, but was interrupted by a rather sickening thud of skull against pavement. "MINION!!!" she exclaimed deafeningly.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Miss Ritchi, but he's slippery as an eel!" cried out the fish defensively.

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, Minion," Megamind said casually. "He's supposed to believe that he just survived a deadly explosion. A few scrapes and bruises here and there won't hurt a thing."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure he'll believe that he just survived an explosion that happened two weeks ago," Roxanne said, her voice thick with sarcasm.

"I'm glad you're actually with me on this, Roxanne," Megamind replied, clearly not catching on to her mockery. Roxanne gave an exasperated sigh, while Megamind continued. "Well, it looks like we're done here, so let's skedaddle before somebody sees us."

"Hey, wait. Aren't you forgetting something?" Roxanne asked.

"Uhhhh… no?"

"I think you are."

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

"How about… his cell phone?"

"What about it?"

'You have to give it back."

"What? No way - I need this device! How else will I talk to you and arrange to see you? Roxanne, you can't ask me of this."

"Megamind.…" Roxanne began, her voice suddenly tender, but she quickly caught herself and replied like a parent trying to reason with a protesting child, "… I'll get you a new one."

"Go on…."

"… And it'll have spikes on it."

"You've got yourself a deal! There, it's in his pocket. Can we go home now?"

"I'm going back to my apartment, but I will stop by tomorrow for dinner and to drop off your new phone… but only if Minion is cooking," Roxanne replied, sounding a little more lighthearted.

"I am now!" Minion piped in cheerfully.

"Good night, then, boys!" Roxanne called out, and her footsteps echoed away into the night.

"Let's go, Minion," came the sound of Megamind's voice. "There's one thing that I absolutely cannot wait to do once we get back to No-Longer-Evil Lair."

"What's that, sir?"

"Sleep."

As Megamind and Minion's footfalls slowly faded out of Chloe's earshot, she decided to finally brave exposing herself. She crept around what appeared to be Metro Man's gigantic nose until she could vaguely make out a dark shape lying on the pavement a few feet in front of her. She nearly did a double take as she realized who it was.

"Bernard," she hissed to herself in shock. Quite genuinely fearing for his well-being, she ran out from behind the nose and dropped to her knees beside him. Her fear proved to not have been in vain, as there was a pretty serious bump on the side of his forehead, spotted with little droplets of accumulating blood.

"Bernard… hey, Bernard!" Chloe called out to him, trying to shake him awake. She gave him a few slaps on the face and tried to pry his eyes open until eventually Bernard began to stir, and then all of a sudden came to. With a shocked yell, he pushed his assaulter as far away from himself as possible, then scooted away from her until his back met a piece of concrete wall. He stared at her - the girl trying desperately to keep herself from toppling over in front of him - and examined her as he tried to catch his breath. He could tell that she was on the shorter side, shorter than him at least, not particularly fit, and with long bronze-colored hair worn in a braid down her back. She wore white capri pants, a checkered black, grey, and white button-down shirt, and black flat-bottomed dress shoes. The first thing Bernard noticed, however, were the gold-rimmed round glasses framing her silver eyes, and the first thought to cross his mind was Round? How tasteless. Not only did he not approve of her glasses, but neither did he appreciate her style (or, as was his opinion, lack thereof), nor the way she wore her hair, and especially not the fact that she was clearly doing something highly inappropriate to him moments earlier. Quite simply put, if Bernard had to choose one redeeming quality about her, his response would have been, "The possibility of her being elsewhere."

"Who are you?" he asked after finally restoring his breathing to a manageable pace.

Chloe blinked at him, not quite understanding. "It's me - Chloe."

"Chloe…?"

"Chloe Henderson."

"Claire Anderson?"

"Chloe. Rose. Henderson. You hired me as your assistant a month ago, remember?"

"I did? That's nice. Where am I?"

"We are outside of the Metro Man museum. It's alright."

"We're…" Bernard mumbled, looking around, "… we're… what? This looks like ground zero!"

"Yes, I suppose the museum blowing up would create that impre-"

"Blowing up??? The museum was blown up?!"

"Yes… how do you not know this…?"

"Oh, God, oh, God - I must've survived the blast, right? I am alive, right?"

"Of course you are!" Chloe exclaimed. "The explosion happened two weeks ago."

"Am I hurt? AM I HURT!?" Bernard cried out, completely ignoring her. He was panicking now, groping his limbs in search of possible injury, his breathing fast and shallow, until finally one of his wildly-flailing hands landed on his forehead. His eyes grew wide, and he quickly withdrew his hand and looked at the blood on his palm. "AAAAAAAAUUUUGH! I AM BADLY AND DANGEROUSLY HURT!"

"Bernard…" Chloe tried again, "… Bernard, look at me." She grabbed a hold of his shaking wrists (Ugh, Minion was right! He was slippery… soaked to the bone, actually… and was he covered in… soap…?) "You are going to be okay. It's only a scrape."

"You don't know that!" Bernard protested, on the verge of hyperventilation. "I could have internal bleeding for all you know! You have to take me to the hospital!"

"That's… probably not the most intelligent thing to do at the moment, considering what the city's been through today. How about I just take you home? I'm sure that after a good sleep, things will make a lot more sense-"

"NO - I demand to be taken to the hospital. As my assistant, it is your job-"

"Wait. Are you saying I'm getting paid for this?"

"… Sure?"

"Then you are badly and dangerously hurt and we should get you to a hospital as soon as possible," Chloe replied, trying not to smile.