Darn ol' plot bunnies...

I don't own Megamind and blah blah, you know the drill (oh no, NOT THE DRILL!).

Minion tinkered with the brainbot quickly. He could hear Megamind had woken up and was stumbling down the hall. It was his 20th birthday, and Minion had a surprise in store, if only he could finish it. He set the incomplete creation down on the table and turned around quickly, a wrench still in his hand, as his boss walked into the workroom rubbing his eyes.

"Happy Birthday, sir!" The little surprise wasn't quite ready, but he'd have to work on it later. Hiding it behind his bulky metal body, he didn't see the spark of energy that jumped in the dome. It began to glow softly.

"Good morning, Minion! And thanks," Megamind replied with a sleepy smile. Minion always remembered his birthday and tried to make it special. This one was special for another reason. It was his first birthday celebrated in the new "evil lair".

"What would you like for breakfast?" the fishy companion asked, trying to usher him from the room before he spotted the gift on the workbench. Suddenly the brainbot lifted unsteadily into the air, coming into view over Minion's shoulder.

"What is that?" Megamind asked excitedly pointing a finger at the flying object.

"Oh my! Well, that is your birthday present." Minion snatched at the brainbot, which moved backward just out of reach. It seemed to shake itself and bobbed up and down in the air a couple times. "I call it a brainbot."

"This is amazing, Minion! You made it yourself? What does it do?" Megamind put a hand out to touch the flying object, and it flew to his fingers and hovered there, gently bumping them.

"Well, I haven't really finished. He's supposed to be a sort of pet for you." As a child, the dogs and cats in the stories he'd read had fascinated Megamind. He didn't quite understand the point of animal companions, especially when he had Minion, who was pretty much a fish but was so much more than a pet. Why would anyone keep a creature around that couldn't do much of anything other than make messes and noise?

Suddenly the brainbot grabbed Megamind's outstretched fingers in its metal jaws. "AHHH!" he shouted and pulled his hand back. The brainbot zoomed nearer as though excited by his cry of pain and began flying in circles around his legs. Trying to follow its movements made Megamind lose his balance, and he sat down with a thump. The brainbot promptly landed on his lap, released a small pool of oil onto his pajamas, and zipped out the door of the workroom. "Minion!"

"I'm on it!" They heard a sudden crash and ran from the workroom to see where the noise came from. The brainbot was near the bank of monitors Megamind used to watch the entrances and outdoor areas around his new base. One monitor had fallen on the floor, its screen smashed. The brainbot was chewing the electrical cord coming from the back of it as small sparks snapped along its jaw.

"No! Stop that, you crazy thing!" He'd spent all yesterday arranging and synchronizing those monitors. The brainbot left another small puddle of oil on the floor and dropped the cord. It flew closer to Megamind again, jaws snapping. He backed up with his hands spread out in front of him. "What do I do, Minion?"

"Um, I don't know! It's not even supposed to be working yet." Trying again unsuccessfully to grab the brainbot, the wrench he was still holding flew from his hand. It clanged along the concrete floor, drawing the hovering metal creature's attention from the blue alien. It flew to the wrench, clamped onto it with its jaws, and brought it to Megamind, dropping it at his feet.

Megamind slowly bent to pick up the wrench as the brainbot danced in the air in front of him. He waved it in the air and the brainbot followed the movement precisely. "Hey, this is great!" He threw the tool across the room and smiled as the small bot zoomed after it and retrieved it again. "It's a puppy!" He laughed and trotted across the room with the brainbot following him.

Minion smiled. This wasn't quite the way he'd envisioned the brainbot turning out, but if his friend was happy with the gift, he was happy too. He watched the blue young man and the glowing blue bot gamboling around the room and smiled wider.

"MINION!" Oh great, now what, Minion thought, pausing in his sewing. "The puppybot chewed up my slippers again! They're ruined." He held up a mess of fuzzy fluff. Megamind's outraged face looked at him accusingly, as though he was personally to blame for the odd bot's antics. "And it left oil all over the floor in my closet… again. Yesterday I slipped on a puddle in the lab and almost blew myself up." The offending bot was held captive under one of Megamind's arms like a football, but it wiggled to get free.

In two years, they had created many more brainbots, all similar in design to the first one, but with much more refined programming. However no amount of tinkering seemed to be able to change the original puppybot's foibles. It chewed and mangled things, knocked objects over and broke them, and constantly leaked small puddles of oil here and there. On the plus side, it played fetch but only with Megamind. Minion sighed and took the little domed creature firmly in his hands so it couldn't escape.

"Maybe it's time we put this guy to sleep," he suggested.

Immediately Megamind's glowering face softened. "What? You mean… no, I couldn't do that." He reached out to touch the bot's dome. "It was your birthday present to me."

"Well, I'm not suggesting we destroy it. We can just turn it off for a while. To get a break from it, you know. Two years is a long time to deal with puppy, uh, puddles."

Megamind looked torn. He didn't like the idea of turning the little thing off and leaving it on a shelf to gather dust. He was fond of it despite all the trouble it caused.

"Look, let's turn it off for today. We have a lot to do anyway. If you want to start it up again tomorrow, after your showdown with Metro Man, you can. It'll just be waiting for you."

Megamind saw the sense in that. "I'll turn it off myself, Minion." He took the squirming bot and walked out with it. Minion was pleased to know his gift meant that much to Megamind after all this time. He smiled and started sewing on the black cape again.

From within his cell, Megamind glared at the new warden. The man simply enjoyed taunting him, that was all. It wasn't necessary to replay the video of the whole embarrassing battle on the wall-mounted television, pointing out where he'd made mistakes and laughing about it. The whole thing had gone wrong almost from the start and now he sat in his personal jail cell. Again.

"How do you like the new décor, Megamind?" Warden Doyle asked with a sneer. "I ordered it just for you. I knew you'd be back." They original pale green walls had recently been repainted with a garish rainbow and frolicking cartoonish animals and included some idiotic slogan about thinking "happy thoughts". Megamind glowered and remained silent in his chair. Anything he said would simply provide more fuel for the warden's meanness. He knew Minion would be preparing his escape even now. If only there was some way to get revenge on this infuriating man who…

An idea popped into his head. He turned his chair around so the warden could no longer see his face through the window. He'd soon give up his mocking and leave. Hopefully Megamind would be able to contact Minion before he left the lair.

"No witty comebacks, Megamind? Well then, enjoy your stay! You'll be here a long time!" The man's nasty laughter echoed through the corridor as the doors clanged closed behind him. Megamind smiled to himself and tapped a small button behind his ear.

"Minion!" he hissed.

A tinny voice answered almost immediately, "Sir? How are you? I'm nearly ready to begin the…"

"Put a hold on that! I have another idea instead." He began to explain to Minion what he wanted him to do.

The box had arrived by mail and was addressed to Megamind. Who the heck would send him anything, the warden wondered. There were strange people who admired the alien as some kind of genius and even claimed to be his fans. He started to remove the tape from the box but then thought better of it. What if it was a trick? It might explode or shoot out acid or who knew what. He would open it in front of Megamind himself in order to judge his reaction. It wouldn't surprise him at all if the blue criminal had sent it to himself in advance of the last battle. He was sneaky like that.

Carrying the box carefully, he walked to the special holding cell that had been created for the self-proclaimed super criminal genius. He waved at the guards, signaling them to open the two sets of bars, and then he reached the cell door itself.

"You got a package." He growled loudly into the window.

"Oh really? How thoughtful! Is it from your wife?" Megamind sat in his chair watching the warden, fingertips pressed together, eyes sparkling.

Warden Doyle sneered at his question and said, "I'll just open it myself." He watched Megamind carefully. There was no change in the smiling blue face. He could be bluffing though. Only one way to find out, he thought, as he carelessly ripped off the tape from the cardboard and opened the flaps. At first all he saw was a tightly packed layer of styrofoam peanuts. Suddenly there was an explosion of the packing material and a glowing round orb flew out of the box.

"AH! What is that thing?" His wide eyes followed the object as it zipped around the room. It ran into the head of one of the guards sitting at the computer terminal and knocked him out. He slid off his chair as the blue-domed creation paused to dribble oil onto the keyboard he'd been using. Next it flew to the warden and snapped its metal jaws together as he plastered himself against the wall with his hands raised in front of him. "Get it away from me!"

Megamind's face was pressed to the window of his cell now in order to observe the chaos, but he was laughing so hard he almost couldn't see what was happening. The puppybot spotted him through the window and began smashing into the glass in an attempt to get to his master. "What's the matter, warden? Don't you like puppies?"

The puppybot quickly tired of failing to reach Megamind and flew over to the second guard, who leaped off his chair and slipped in another puddle of oil. He landed on his back on the hard concrete floor and groaned loudly. More peals of laughter were heard from the cell. By this time the warden had gathered his wits enough to realize he had to stop the thing somehow. He drew his gun and fired wildly at the brainbot as it zoomed around the small room, darting here and there. Megamind drew back from the window just as a shot shattered the glass. The excited bot was leaking little trails of oil continuously now, zipping excitedly from corner to corner. It seemed to enjoy dodging the bullets. Warden Doyle was becoming more and more frustrated at not being able to hit the thing. He spun around at the brainbot dodged behind him and, slipping on a stream of oily fluid, his feet shot out from under him and his head connected with the floor with a loud thump. He was out like a light. The two guards still lay on floor also, one unconscious and the other groaning and squeezing his eyes closed in pain.

Megamind reached his long arm through the broken window and keyed the number pad to unlock his cell. As soon as the door opened, the puppybot flew into his stomach, knocking the wind from him. "Oof!" He grabbed it tightly so it wouldn't escape again. "Good boy!" He patted its dome.

"You've got a package," the much older Warden Doyle growled into the window of the cell, holding up a very small box addressed to Megamind.

"Is it a puppy?" Megamind asked with an excited expression, rising from his seat a little.

I'm going to ignore that, the warden thought.

(Four years later...)

"Well, he's finally asleep. Of course he insisted I listen to him read for a while before he'd settle down. I still can't get over how well he reads for a three year old. Tonight it was 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'. What are you doing, Megs?" Roxanne asked as she walked up behind him. He was working on a brainbot, but this one looked different from the others that were always present in the lair. It was slightly dusty around the edges too.

"Oh, just working on something for Michael." He smiled at her as she put a hand on his shoulder and looked interestedly at the odd bot. "Believe it or not, it's a puppy."