Author's Note: First off, I want to thank all of you so, so much for all the amazing reviews and favorites and follows! I didn't have time to reply to everyone individually, so I just want to say thank you to everyone! It means the world to me!

I want to apologize for taking so long. I had a serious bout of writer's block about half-way through.

Also, thanks to LionshadeSC for beta-reading, and also a shoutout to my sister who came up with the chapter name.

(Oh, and just because I haven't said it yet, I don't own Megamind or any of the characters.)

Virtually Unpredictable

Chapter Three: Anger and Arguments

Megamind led them through the deceptively beautiful forest, watching and listening for any unexpected dangers. Roxanne followed him closely, praying he knew where he was going.

Wayne lagged a bit behind them, loath to trust Megamind, but left with few other options. He kept jumping at every little noise, expecting another werewolf to leap out and eat him. He heard a particularly loud noise and froze. Several tense seconds passed. When nothing happened, he looked around and realized he'd lost sight of his companions.

"Roxie?" he called out, glancing around nervously. "...Megamind?"

He hated not having his powers. His senses felt muffled, which was an added layer to his confusion. It was especially annoying that Megamind's hearing was now sharper than his.

In real life, he could easily have found them with his x-ray vision, or his super-hearing. Heck, if this was real life, he could just fly up and spot them easily from above. That was the worst part, if he was honest. He wasn't used to feeling the weight of his giant muscles, and having to manually lug that weight around. Now he had to exert effort simply to move. He couldn't remember the last time he had exerted effort to do something.

Wayne suddenly heard a branch snap nearby. Starting to panic, he backed up against a tree. Correction, this was the worst part. He was completely defenseless, his sword hanging uselessly at his side. He wasn't an expert fencer like Megamind was, and he had no clue what to do with the blade.

Metro Man had never known fear. He had felt concern, of course. Concern that Roxanne or his adoptive parents could be hurt by some vengeful evildoer, or that he would accidentally injure someone with his strength. But he'd never felt actual fear for his life before. It was a strange, horrible feeling, and he hated it.

There was another sound in the bushes, a reptilian growl. Wayne froze, his heart beating at a rate he hadn't been aware it could reach. He felt vulnerable, fragile. Thoughts he'd never had to think started racing through his head. Thoughts of imminent pain, and even death. Possibilities he'd never had to consider before.

Then this... thing came out of the bushes. It looked like it might once, in another life, have been human. Now, though, it was anything but. Its' skin was made up of dark green scales, and it had the head of a lizard. Crouching low to the ground, a sharp-looking spear clutched in its claws, it slowly approached Wayne. Just when he thought the beast couldn't be any more terrifying, it gave a horrific screech that made the blood run cold in his veins.

He was out of options. So Metro Man, Hero of Metro City, The Man of Titanium himself, did the only thing he could do.

He turned his head, squeezed his eyes shut, and gave the loudest, most girlish scream he could muster.

Megamind and Roxanne kept to the path, pausing only when they reached a river.

"Ok," Megamind said, "we can rest here for a minute." He looked around. "Where's that brainless boyfriend of yours?" he asked Roxanne.

She rolled her eyes but, as usual, didn't bother correcting him on the subject of their relationship. "Wayne, would you catch up already?" she called.

No response.

"Wayne?" Megamind called out, to no avail. "Great," he growled under his breath, "if that idiot's gotten himself lost..."

Then they both heard a very frightened, high-pitched scream.

Wayne pressed himself even closer to the tree, too scared even to open his eyes.

This wasn't exactly how he'd pictured himself leaving the world. Not that he'd given it much thought. To be perfectly honest, he'd pictured Megamind finally discovering his weakness or just getting lucky. Who would have thought his weakness would turn out to be a video game? He might have laughed at the thought, if he weren't petrified with fear.

Because the freaky lizard-thing had friends. Five? Six? It was hard to tell without looking. Those horrible sounds they made assaulted him from all directions.

Wayne couldn't remember his people's religion, so he fell back on the God his adoptive parents worshiped, and prayed with everything he had.

Suddenly, he heard a new sound. A battle cry. The reptilian screeches rose in number and volume, then slowly faded, until there was silence. Then, and only then, Wayne managed to open his eyes.

Megamind was standing there, breathing heavily with his sword still drawn. Roxanne stood at the edge of the clearing with her bow, staring at Megamind with an expression between awe and mild fear.

Still panting, Megamind turned his burning green eyes on Wayne. "What was that?!" he asked, frustration clear in his tone.

Metro Man purposely went for the more obvious answer. "I- I don't know, they had these green scales and-"

"Not the Lizard Men," Megamind snapped, "you! That thing hanging at your side is called a sword, hero!"

Wayne looked at the ground sheepishly. "...There's something I should have mentioned before this."

"Like what?" Roxanne said, surprisingly angry herself.

The hero stared at them both, shocked and more than a little nervous. He'd never seen either of them this mad before, and the knowledge that their fury was directed at him was not exactly comforting.

"I..." he started, scratching the back of his head, "I believe in nonviolence."

Megamind narrowed his eyes in contempt. "Come again?" he said darkly.

Wayne knew that tone; it was Megamind's 'calm before the storm' voice. The one he saved for when he was really mad.

"I, well," he continued awkwardly, "I took an oath. I can't hurt anyone or anything."

"But you destroy Megamind's robots like it's nothing!" Roxanne pointed out.

"That's different," Metro Man protested, "those are just machines, these are like animals or even primitive humans!"

Megamind's anger rose another notch at this. To have his inventions, most of which were given names and had personalities and he loved like his own children, to have this imbecile call them 'just machines' sent his blood boiling.

"So," Megamind began, forcing himself to say calm, "so that arm you broke when we were kids?"

"That was an accident," Wayne insisted.

Megamind gave a bitter laugh. "Accident?! Oh sure, so it was a mere coincidence that I had just accused the teacher of playing favorites, and you just happened to choose that exact moment to 'accidentally' beat me up?"

Roxanne looked at Wayne, starting to see him in a whole new light. "You broke his arm?"

Metro Man floundered desperately for words. "No, look, it wasn't my fault! We were just kids!"

"I don't buy that for a second, Wayne," Megamind said, a particularly hard note in his voice. "You can't seriously look me in the eye and tell me you didn't know your own strength. That you didn't know you were capable of hurting someone."

Wayne was still trying to think of a response when they heard a voice.

"Sir? Sir, are you still there?!" Minion sounded alarmed.

Megamind felt the edge of his mouth turn up in a half-smile. The interruption was more than welcome.

"We are not done with this conversation," he glared at Wayne, who gave a nervous grin, before answering Minion. "Yes, Minion, I'm all right. I'm here with Miss Ritchi and Metro Man. We're all unhurt." That was a lie. He was well aware of the small gash in his leg. It stung a bit, but he didn't want anyone to know. "Any progress on your end?"

"Um... Well, Sir, I've got good news and bad news."

"Give me the bad news," he said without hesitation. He failed to see how things could get any worse.

Minion's sigh was audible. "I've tried everything I can think of to get you out of there, but nothing's worked."

Megamind's shoulders slumped. He'd been counting on Minion finding some forgotten failsafe and getting them out.

"Nevermind, Minion," he said sincerely, "you did your best. We'll just have to win the game. Hey, how far are we from the nearest town?"

"Let me check..." Minion started typing.

In the following awkward silence, Metro Man turned to Roxanne. "Look, Roxy, I don't understand why you're angry with me. You're the one who always said I needed to mind my strength."

"But this isn't Metro City, Wayne," Roxanne said severely, "this is a life or death situation. You don't have your strength, and even if you did, these enemies aren't even real! They don't feel pain, and you don't need to feel guilty about killing them! So just GET OVER YOURSELF!" she shouted.

Megamind turned around and stared at her in shock as Wayne took an involuntary step back, blinking in hurt and confusion. She just crossed her arms and stubbornly looked away from them.

Roxanne never raised her voice. Ever. The fact that she had yelled at Metro Man, of all people? Megamind had to wonder. What if her and Wayne's relationship wasn't as perfect as the newspapers and tabloids made it out to be? What if they were, in reality, on the verge of breaking up?

The thought gave him mixed emotions. This could be a huge problem for him, if he couldn't use Roxanne as bait anymore. How else was he supposed to lure Metro Man to his doom?

But, on the other hand, if Roxanne was... single...

No, he cut that line of thought off immediately, snuffing out the annoying little spark of hope that had kindled itself in his chest.

He turned his attention back to the watch. "Minion?"

"Just a second, Sir."

A few more seconds passed.

"Ah ha!" Minion said triumphantly, "Sorry about the wait, Sir, it took me a minute to find your coordinates. What are you doing that far off the path, anyway?"

Megamind gave a frustrated sigh. "We suffered a minor setback, thanks to certain people..." he shot Metro Man a glare.

"Ok, look, I'm sorry I almost died, okay?" Wayne cried, exasperated. "You all happy now?"

Roxanne didn't acknowledge the statement except to growl under her breath. Megamind just turned back to the watch.

There was a pause on Minion's part. "Sir..." he said with obvious worry in his voice, "Sir, it says here you only have 95 hitpoints out of 100. You said..."

"I know," Megamind said softly, wishing the others couldn't hear this. "I... didn't want to scare you."

"What happened?!" Minion cried.

"Oh, well," he said bitterly, "Mr. Hero over here couldn't bring himself to slay a couple of virtual Lizard Men, so I had to swoop in and save his sorry butt! That's all!"

"What is it with you people?!" Wayne threw his hands up in frustration.

It was at this point that Megamind turned and realized that Roxanne was staring at him. He instinctively shifted to hide the injury, minor as it was. He hadn't wanted her to know about it, but he didn't detect any pity in her expression. She looked surprised, and maybe just a little impressed.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. He wanted to impress her with his villainy, not this borderline heroism.

He tried to ignore her. "I'll be fine, Minion," he said reassuringly. "Where is the town?"

"Oh, Tolbroke is directly to the northeast. You should get there in about ten minutes, assuming you don't meet many enemies."

"Thank you, Minion. Over and out." Megamind turned. "Alright, you heard the fish. Let's get moving."

As they walked, Roxanne tried to process her feelings. She was bitterly disappointed in Wayne for not rising to the occasion, but she was amazed to find that Megamind had. The way he'd fought those Lizard Men, it was as if he'd battled monsters his entire life. It was almost beautiful, in a way, watching his skilled and precise movements. And it was also, on some level, a little frightening. To see Megamind, of all people, suddenly revealing himself to be such an adept fighter... She sensed, somehow, that it wasn't an ability given to him by the game. It was just him. That was kind of alarming, and yet... Some small part of her, a usually stifled and ignored part, found it incredibly attractive. She immediately buried the idea. It was just... wrong. Wrong on so many levels.

...Wasn't it?

Though a combination of stealth and dumb luck, they made it to Tolbroke without any problems.

Megamind looked around, his inner geek becoming downright giddy over seeing his carefully designed and scripted buildings looking so realistic, not to mention Minion's townspeople and props. He led them to a large wood building, one of the few with a solid roof instead of thatch. A sign hung above the door.

"'The Prancing Horse?'" Roxanne read, raising an eyebrow at Megamind. "Do I detect a Tolkien reference?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Ritchi," he said defensively while he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head.

The reference had been completely intentional, but he didn't want to admit it. Most villains don't waste their time reading fantasy. The fact that he could read a 500-page book in an hour made no difference.

"Alright," he said seriously, "hopefully everyone in there will follow their programing and not bother us. But just in case, stay calm. Act cool, like you walk into medieval taverns all the time. Don't talk too loudly."

Wayne looked nervous. "Do you really think it's an issue?"

Megamind hesitated, his hand on the doorknob. He didn't think it would be. When playing the game from the outside, the villagers didn't even notice you unless you wanted to buy something. But then again, the monsters had all acted more realistically than their programing allowed for.

"I don't know," he admitted, "but I don't want to take any chances." He pulled the hood forward to hide part of his face before entering the tavern.

Roxanne exchanged anxious looks with Wayne.

Usually, Megamind was the only one who really knew what was going on. He was the one who set the stage and supplied the conflict. He was in full control of the situation, while they simply reacted.

Megamind's uncertainty was very unnerving. It meant that no one had control of the situation.