DO NOT ADJUST YOUR COMMS. WE NOW CONTROL THE AIRWAVES.

[megamind]

[There is a blue man in dramatic lighting. Bedecked as befits a comic book villain. A heavy mantle defines his shoulders, spikes all across it, an arching collar framing his slender neck and large head. A body suit, where the start of his trademark blue lightning bolt starts it's path down across his body.]

[He sits somewhere, in what appears to be some sort of strange mess of wires, panels and montors, all ablink with light and readings.]

CAPTIVES OF THE TRANQUILITY.

I an Megamind, and-- I am now in control of the ship.

[A gesture, and the power flickers for a moment.]

You have thirty minutes to surrender, or I will handle any further insurrection with harm to my hostages, Dr. Jane Foster and Miss Roxanen Ritchi. Where are they, you've been wondering. Hard at work? Lost to the warp?

No, no no. They've been in my tender care. [Obligatory, rolling villainous chuckle; confident in his smugness.] All this time.

You are to head straight to the med bay and engage your grav couches. Any resistance will be met with force. I have measures in place to protect myself -- do not test my patience, captives!

I am doing you all a favor. I'm not pretending to be your friend while assembling a team of close operatives to insinuate into key positions like the good Captain Kirk is while suggesting that we let someone feed on you, nor am I silent like Ward and Resnik in the depths of the ship. I'm giving you what the captain must: Someone to hate, while he does something no one else would:

Act!

No, go to the med bay! It's the only clear path you'll have. Any other places will be met with resistance... And I don't want to have to start destroying important facilities to cow you into submission, either.

But I will.

[He rises, flourishes.]

Thirty minutes. Grav couches. Don't squander it.

Comments

[saidhe]

Your plans?

[ He chuckles, amused, and shakes his head. ]

If you know my name then you know I'm no fool, and you wouldn't have come this far if YOU were a fool. That being said, we both know you won't reveal any of your plans so there's really no use in asking.

I merely meant to point out the dangers of acting alone on a ship of a terribly large amount of people who don't seem particularly comfortable with being actively told what to do, with violent forces. At least when the controls were behind the metaphorical curtain, one can pretend. My question is why a man so brilliant as yourself wouldn't bother to gather at least an accomplice or two, a resistance. This could have been very successful.

[megamind]

You don't think I haven't already played certain parties against each other? Or garnered support? Or know, that if I lose-- at the very least, the seed is planted?

For once: I have a contingency plan. Roxanne would be very proud if, err, she wasn't a cube right now.

[saidhe]

[ A faint smile, at the corner of his mouth. ]

I do hope the seeds of this plan weren't sown merely to impress the lady.

[megamind]

[There's a laugh; fond of Roxanne, yes, but rueful.]

She's never impressed. No, no. This was in play long before she arrived on the ship. She merely became-- added incentive.

[saidhe]

[ Oh, well, good. Megamind isn't too much of a disappointment, then. He's seen men do far worse for something so foolish as the love of a woman. And that's just under the ministrations of Irene Adler. ]

And when it doesn't last? I'm hoping you've plans for what's to happen when this one turns up a failure.

[megamind]

Ah-ah-ah.

You can't have it all.

[saidhe]

A fair enough answer.

I'll merely have to ask you when you've been thoroughly beaten and you've nothing left to lose.

[megamind]

Even then, you'll never know.

[saidhe]

Why?

Why not share? Why not give reason? When genius only seems to be so recognized as one allows it to be.

[megamind]

[He shakes his head]

For once, I'm not doing it for the joy, for the sheer pride of having the right to say 'I did it'.

[saidhe]

In which case, you'll predictably offer no hints as to what those changes are, though one can assume that a rather large change in your life is what sprouted said changes.

[megamind]

I'm fairly sure that in the grand scheme of things, any personal epiphanies I may have had will not be remembered by anyone as anything truly important.

[saidhe]

I was referring, of course, to your involuntary introduction to the ship.

Do you speak out of past experience? Or do you merely work on assumption?

[megamind]

I think it's not important for you to psychoanalyze me. Really, are you this bored? There's a crisis and you're trying to dig into my enormous brain? Really?

[saidhe]

[ Sherlock waves a hand, passively. ]

There are plenty of others far more well-versed in the mechanisms of your "army" than myself who are hard at work and likely stopping each of them as we speak. The crisis is on its path to being averted. The effect, you see, is not what interests me, but the cause.

You knew this plan would fail. A fool would say the answer were simple: You merely hadn't thought through your consequences, but you are not a stupid man, and only a stupid man doesn't consider the consequences of an action so big. Which infers an ulterior motive, and the question: Why would someone want to incite a doomed revolution?

[ He props his chin on a hand, and studies Megamind, unbothered. ]

But you'd rather not reveal your plans.

[megamind]

An excellent question.

Win or lose-- I still get something. You just don't know what it is.