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Sometimes, success is not achieved by just working hard. Sure, it certainly plays a major part in success, but sometimes it depends on those hard-to-grasp moments, those singular choices, that decide if you make it or break it, so to speak.
Journalism is no exception, especially when it comes to TV journalism. And Roxanne Ritchi perhaps should not have been as surprised as she was that her “make it or break it” -moment was as tied up with a certain blue alien as the rest of her life was going to be.
So far, everything else on that day had been … frankly horrible. Her old coffee machine had given out that morning, and she had to choose between drinking brown-colored sludge with visible grounds floating in it or try to brave the day without coffee.
(Of course she had grimaced and chucked back the sludge, one does not simply survive a Monday without caffeine, what do you think?)
And then she had been drenched in a puddle on her way to work. Well, not work per se, but rather her internship at KMCP news (someone seemed to have decided that having one female newscaster was enough. But Roxanne refused to give up. Someday, they had to hire her for real).
The icing on the cake had been her boss “Just-call-me-Doug-Roxy”, who had not been hired for his close friendship with the director, “oh no”, and who had sent her for a heinous number of copies for the newest meeting she was not included in, just as she walked into the office (who could have thought that newscasters needed this much paperwork, Roxanne thought dryly).
And although she’d much rather go to the bathrooms to try and dry her new beige blazer and her red shirt before they were completely ruined, not to mention her hair (at least her new pixie cut dried relatively fast), Roxanne sighed and went ahead to make the copies. But the final straw was someone incredibly tall whose face she did not recognize as he bumped into her on the way back from the copy machine.
“Oh, I’m sorry Miss!”, the strange person exclaimed apologetically and subsequently tried to help her pick up a few of the fallen papers and put them back on her arms.
Roxanne raised her eyebrows over her enormous pile of documents and tried to assess the person in front of her a bit more. No one was polite to the female interns without an afterthought. No one. This person was fishy. And not just because of his ill-fitting suit, strange height or strangely stumbling movements as he picked up a few of the fallen formulas.
“Thank you. If I may ask, which department you work in?” she asked, while trying not to look as suspicious as she was, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“Uhm… I’m… In… Editing. Yes. Editing and Camerawork.” The stranger stumbled and tried not to look her in the eyes. Instead he focused intensely on layering the edges of formula A2 painstakingly correct on those of formula 2B.
“I’m just asking, because you don’t seem to have a badge.” Roxanne asked, and her perfectly formed eyebrow rose just a tiny fraction higher.
The stranger did not seem to have an answer for that question, and she could see his eyes flicker quickly from one side to the other while frantically searching for one. Formula 2B did not seem to have it.
He sighed, and scratched the back of his head . “Okay, you’ve got me. I’m an intern, I start today, and no one told me I needed one. They basically just told me I had to get to the editing room.”
He seemed embarrassed, and while Roxanne most certainly did not believe that stupid excuse for a second, she decided to let it go and stood up from the boring beige carpet floor most offices seemed to favor for some inexplicable reason.
“If you need directions, I can show you the way.” The relieved look the person gave her was enough to know that she had done the right thing.
“But only if you help me get some of these papers to my boss’ desk.”
“Thank you!” He immediately relieved her of more than half of the pile and accompanied her back to “Just-call-me Doug-Roxy”’s desk.
“Are you not a newscaster here?” He attempted to make polite conversation.
“What, me?” Roxanne snorted with disbelief. “No. I may have a master’s degree in journalism and I may be quite a bit more qualified than some of the other people here”, she tried to subtly nod at Doug’s neighbor, who currently was asleep at his desk and covered in donut crumbs.” But I’m a woman, and they apparently have enough of us hired already”.
She supplemented the last part of her sentence with air quotes after she had deposited the papers on her boss’ desk and tried not to feel slightly vindicated by the strangers astonished expression. His eyes seemed to bulge almost unnaturally.
“Wha? So, they try to hold you back for… who you are? But you’re just a normal human!”
Roxanne shrugged, and ignored the strange turn of phrase. Her day was weird enough already. “There even seems to be a quota for “normal humans”. Come on, I’ll show you the editing room.”
“Roxy! Cold you get me some more coffee?” “Just-call-me-Doug” waved his empty cup in her direction and didn’t even look up from her computer. Roxanne, who was trying to review another one of her articles on the bad labor practices in the Scott family factories (which probably would be rejected anyways), tried to not roll her eyes too much. How many times did she have to remind him that her name was not “Roxy”?
“Yes sir, I’ll get you your coffee…”
Nowadays, the break room discussions seemed to revolve more and more around the rumors of a supervillain who seemed to be rising in Metro City’s underworld. Roxanne always tried to stay out of it, but well, some of the gossips always blocked direct access to the coffee machine and made it impossible to ignore their ramblings while she waited for “Just call-me-Doug-Roxy”’s black coffee to finish brewing.
“He is real! I keep telling you! That superpowered drug dealer, whatshisname, he was found in some trash heap and evidently thrown out of a window! The cops say it was a rival dealer but come on- I don’t believe that stupid-ass excuse for a second. I mean… That guy has superpowers!” one of the sports commentators waved wildly with his (thankfully empty) coffee mug. His companion narrowly avoided colliding with his glassware and shrugged.
“Maybe he decided to smoke some of his own stash. And even if it were a supervillain, Scott’s boy is gonna take care of it anyways.” He drank the rest of his own sludge, and eyed Roxanne’s freshly brewing pot hungrily.
That was the other thing the break-room-conversation mostly revolved around. The Scott family’s son, young, bright, rich and also apparently born with superpowers. While he only started to use his powers officially a few weeks ago (apparently, he was just two or so years younger than Roxanne herself), he had already put out an apartment fire and saved a few kittens.
And stopped a strike against better working conditions in his parents’ factory. But somehow, that last point always got ignored.
Roxanne was as indifferent to his role as she could be while working for one of Metro city’s greatest news networks. That he had superpowers didn’t make him superhuman. She would love to interview him, sure, but more about his future role as the Scotts successor than blindly worship at his feet, as so many of her colleagues already did.
Thankfully, the coffee machine had finally finished her wheezing and therefore it was time to go back to the office. Or rather, her boss’ office. Discreetly checking her wristwatch, she noticed that it wasn’t too long until lunchbreak. It seemed like she had used up her bad luck for today and at least she could go out for a sandwich or something in less than an hour.
Well, destiny seemed to have other plans for her, because Roxanne had just stared to fantasize about a really good sub from that small café nearby when she was called on by a familiar face as she crossed the lobby with its big glass windows and countless screens showing news from all over the world.
“Hey, Roxanne!” Drew, one of the camerapersons called out to her and held a bunch of wires aloft that were evidently going to be loaded into the news van idling on the crosswalk outside.
“I could use some help with the equipment! Wanna drive to the city with the team and me?” His grin was infectious and although Roxanne would have liked nothing better than to avoid her boss for the rest of the morning, she regrettably called back „I can’t, got coffee for Doug!” and raised the mug in her hand for emphasis.
Drew rolled his eyes and yelled: “That idiot is completely able to get his own coffee. Look, I’ll cover for you later, we could use your help. There are…” he looked at his hands” A lot of wires. And the new intern is kind of an idiot, I don’t trust him with my equipment!”
Roxanne grinned, and downed Doug’s coffee.
“Weeeelll, if you ask so nicely…” She gathered some of the electronics in her arms and followed him out of the sliding doors.
Roxanne sighed. She probably should’ve expected that the team Drew was filming for today, was that of the only female newscaster of KMCP. And while she did admire Katrina Shaw for her accomplishments, she couldn’t avoid the small stab of jealousy as she saw her get prepped and handed a microphone before she could stand before the camera. Even if it only was for a midday showing, and there were certainly more interesting things to report on than the new office complex of one of the Scott’s factories. The fact that they had only attracted a small crowd of passers-by that were politely complimented out of the way by Drew and her, spoke volumes.
“It is a wonderful day in Metro City today, my name is Katrina Shaw and today we are going to be present at the new “Scott Industries” office downtown...”
Roxanne stepped over the cables running from the van and tried to avoid being stabbed in the eye by Alisha, who was a bit too enthusiastic with her microphone today.
“Pshhh, Roxy! Hi!” The new intern, Hal, was another reason to try to avoid getting near the recording news group. While he seemed decently competent with electronics, he had tried to hit on her multiple times already and seemed to avoid physical work like the plague. No wonder Drew had been so annoyed with him.
Roxanne smiled back uneasily and edged at bit further away. He was a bit of a creep.
Standing a bit further away and keeping an eye on the few people that hadn’t left after being shooed out of the camera’s lens, she was the one who noticed it first.
“Is that… Fog?” And indeed, a few small white tendrils of fog were weaving across the asphalt in the distance between the skyscrapers of downtown Metro City. Roxanne looked up and narrowed her eyes.
Fog and sunshine on a spring day? Something was very much not right about this. “Ohmygod!” The confusion around them edged into terror as the fog drew nearer, it grew thicker and darker.
As if on cue, the sky darkened as well, and the ominous atmosphere seemed to shake even the professional news crew.
“Are you seeing this?” The cameraperson was no longer focused on Miss Shaw, although she didn’t seem to have noticed, her eyes focused on the buildings vanishing in the fog.
“Here is Katrina Shaw, the weather seems to have worsened suddenly, and there seem to be ominous shadows in the fog abruptly surrounding the downtown area…”
Roxanne tuned her out, as the creepy atmosphere was suddenly supplemented by an even creepier sound.
Laughter.
Creepy, ominous, deep malicious laughter.
And that was when the laser show started.
“Screaming” would have been an understatement for the cacophonous noise the citizens of Metro City could make, Roxanne thought wryly, while trying not to be trampled by the crowds currently running for their lives around her. She pressed herself closer to the side of the white news van, and steadfastly tried to ignore the gigantic, spiderlike black robot currently engaged in battle with the youngest Scott ahead of her.
Well, a much as someone could ignore something currently shooting lasers.
She peered around the corner of the van and saw a windswept Ms. Shaw trying to battle her fight-or flight response as she tried to record something over the screaming of the crowds.
The only part of the news crew that had not yet fled was her and Drew, who tried to hold the camera that had apparently been shoved in his arms somewhat steadily. Hal was nowhere to be seen.
Well, the only people left were Shaw, Drew, and Roxanne apparently.
Another laser beam from the robot hit the already severely damaged brand new bureau complex and they all had to duck chunks of flying debris as the building collapsed completely.
“You know what, fuck this job, it’s not worth losing my life over!” Ms. Shaw screamed in a sudden bout of profanity as the dust settled around them.
She dropped her microphone and ran off in the other direction as fast as her professional heels and pencil skirt would take her- away from the battle in front of them, where Scott had apparently taken the destruction of the building as a personal insult and began wrenching out the spiderbots legs with pure force.
“Fuck, Shaw, wait!” Drew turned around and almost overbalanced the camera as he tried to hold her back and focus on the battle at the same time. “Shit!”
“Whoa, steady!” Roxanne steadied the camera on his shoulder as he frantically rubbed away the dust that had settled on the lens.
“Roxanne? What are you doing her? Its dangerous!” Drew sounded accusing and thankful at the same time.
“I’m here to help!” She screamed over the roaring sounds of the fight, metal screeching and bending in the distance. The robot did not seem doing so well when it was matched against Scott’s raw fists.
“There’s not much we can do if we don’t have a newscaster!” Drew roared back, and then stilled.
“Wait, you take her microphone!”
“Me?” Roxanne’s eyes widened, and although Drew couldn’t have understood her over the noise, he seemed to understand her tumultuous expression just as well.
“Come on Roxanne, professional live footage of the battle of the century? They have to hire you after this!”
And it said something about her dedication to her job, that this was pretty much all it took to convince her to do it. She picked up the microphone (thankfully not broken) placed herself in front of the camera for the first time in her life. Without a teleprompter, crew or even a couple of flash cards. Just her, her resolved expression and a slightly damaged microphone.
“Good afternoon. My name is Roxanne Ritchi, and we at KCMP news are just witnessing the first battle between what seems like a new supervillain and the youngest member of the Scott family, Wayne Scott…”
And just then, a gigantic explosion behind her spelled the end of the spiderbot. Roxanne didn’t turn around. She knew she had to remain professional, even as she ducked quickly to avoid the flying metal parts and screws.
“The question is, will this remain the sole appearance of the new threat to Metro city?”, she coughed, blinking away the dust settling around them, eyes still focused on the lens of Drews camera which reflected a shadowy version of her and the dust settling in the distance.
Then, suddenly, a scoff could be heard behind them. “Nooo, I don’t think it will… I do not have the wish to vanish from Metrocity, not after such a spectacular entrance!”, the new, dark voice like mellow chocolate, drawled teasingly – and the hazy figure it belonged to promptly grabbed her arm.
Roxanne whipped around and tried to whack him with her microphone. He promptly grabbed her other hand as well and the weapon fell from her numb hands on the dusty street below.
“Wha-“She couldn’t help but stare in shock at the person now holding what seemed like a gun to her temple.
To be honest, under normal circumstances it had to be quite difficult to avoid as well- his skin was bright blue, and his head a fair bit larger than what she was accustomed to. And he was wearing a lot of very spiky leather. And - was that a cape?
“Please excuse the impolite introduction Miss newscaster, but I need a safe way to get out of here, as long as Mr. goody-two-shoes is still buried under my marvelous but sadly destroyed creation.”
He blinked at her almost apologetically with a pair of seafoam-green eyes and for a moment she almost thought he might have been sincere.
“So… I hope it isn’t too much of a bother, but you will be my hostage for the time being.” He smirked, a teasing thing on the edge of his mouth, his eyes glittering maliciously. “If you play along nicely, you won’t get hurt. Now, may I borrow your van?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she tested his hold on her hands. That would-be supervillain was holding here hostage! An apology was not going to cut it at this rate. She was just about to snarl a scathing reply to his frankly ridiculous suggestion and to infer that she would very much not play along nicely, thanks very much-!
“Roxanne!” Drew called out and shakily settled the camera on the ground. He widened his stance and waved his fists bravely in the direction of Roxanne’s kidnapper.
“D-don’t worry! I-I’ll save you!”
Roxanne tried to find that display cute rather than roll her eyes at him. She did not need to be saved, especially since she knew that trying so would just get him killed. If this indeed was the supervillain the city had talked about the past weeks, Drew didn’t stand a chance.
Her kidnapper seemed to think the same and didn’t look to bothered by him at all.
“I’m very sorry Mr. Cameraman, but I do need to get on with it” he said and glanced over his shoulder at the largest bit of the spiderbot, that shifted and groaned. “I don’t think Mr. Goody-two-shoes over there will be occupied much longer.”
Drew just gritted his teeth and didn’t budge. Roxanne tried to move her hands out of the villains hold and stole a glance at the gun at her temple as he shifted to accommodate her. The barrel apparently had different settings…. The one at the top labeled dehydration in a swirly font.
“Oh well.” Roxanne’s kidnapper sighed, drew her closer and shot Drew in the head.
A small blue cube was the only thing that remained. “DID YOU JUST DEHYDRATE MY CAMERAMAN?!” Roxanne shrieked, and flailed as she tried to get her hands out of his hold once more. He didn’t seem to be prepared for her to fight back this furiously and she managed to at least deck him once right across the face before he caught her wrists again.
“How did you-” he started with a surprised expression before he swung her around, as the steel beam that trapped the hero behind him finally broke and Wayne Scott was released.
He immediately shot up into the air and searched like a hawk for the figure of his opponent. Scott’s eyes seemed to zone in on the villain and Roxanne, and she could’ve sworn she heard a small gulp behind her, as he noticed that he was standing across a hero without a few layers of protective metal around him.
But he had her as a hostage, didn’t he? A true superhero wouldn’t…
Suddenly, Scott let the lasers of his eyes roam free, seemingly not caring for property damage or Roxanne, who only narrowly avoided being hit by a laser beam – thanks to the villain behind her. He had managed to gather her into his arms and turned her away from the deadly red beam that hit the street just millimeters behind his back and left a scorching mark in the middle of it.
“Hey, I have a hostage! Be a little bit more careful!” He screamed at Scott angrily, who only blinked confusedly and lowered himself so that he hovered a few meters aboveground.
Then, his face transformed into a grin straight from a toothpaste commercial. “Worry not, citizen! I, the marvelous Metroman, will come to your aid!” Wait…Was he honest-to-god flexing in the air?
“Metroman! The only way you can save this poor damsel is, if you let me go so that I may return on another day and we may resume our great battle!” Roxanne’s kidnapper answered for her gleefully and moved the gun a little bit closer to her temple. “Can you not see how afraid she is???”
Both opponents suddenly focused their eyes on her, their excited expressions eerily similar.
Roxanne rolled her eyes. Hard.
While she couldn’t see her kidnapper’s face, she presumed that it was the same expression of “heroic bravery” that Scott wore right now. Apparently, she hadn’t walked into a supervillain-superhero-battle. It seemed more like something that would play out in a kindergarten. And she had no intention to be the helpless damsel in distress for either of them.
She shrugged. “I’m good actually.”
“What? You’re not supposed to be good!” The man holding her shrieked in indignation. “You’re supposed to be screaming!”, he looked helplessly up at Scott and waved his ray gun around. “Why isn’t she screaming?”
The superhero shrugged, equally puzzled.
“Well, maybe you aren’t that terrifying?” Roxanne couldn’t help but want to egg him on and smirked at the villain still holding her captive with a raised eyebrow. While he did seem to be at least a bit destructive (the collapsed building behind her showed as much), the most damage he had done to a human being was to dehydrate him.
And somehow, deep down, she had the inexplicable feeling that he wouldn’t harm her.
Hadn’t he almost been hit by a laser because of her?
Her kidnapper’s eyes widened, then narrowed. She was being challenging, but he didn’t seem to be put off by that, rather, he seemed downright delighted.
“Oh… I’m not terrifying?” He smirked back at her, the curve of his smile razor-sharp. “I will show you how terrifying I can be…” he murmured in low tones, right next to her ear. The sound sent shivers down her spine. “Until we meet again, Miss Newscaster. It seems I have to use plan B for my cunning escape today.”
Suddenly, she was enveloped in blue smoke as he dropped a smoke bomb. Coughing, she whipped around, but the only thing she could see was smoke. Confusedly, she tried to inhale less of the stuff, the chemical scent sharp in her nose. When it finally dissipated, an incredibly angry Wayne Scott scanned the rest of the street. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten to use his super-breath on the smoke.
“Curses! Megamind has gotten away!” He shook his fist almost comically and took off, without a glance to check if Roxanne was okay. She rolled her eyes again. She seemed to do that a lot lately. Roxanne looked around at the empty street and shook her head at the destruction. Didn’t Scotts mother teach him to clean up after his playthings?
Then, she tucked the dehydrated drew into the pocket of her dusty blazer, shouldered the camera and climbed into the news van. Time to get back to the office and see if the footage was even usable. She glanced at her wristwatch.
“Megamind, huh?” Roxanne mused, surprising even herself with how… normal she was feeling. Almost as if she’d been safe the whole time – even with a gun at her temple.
“You owe me a lunch break already. I hope that doesn’t become a habit.”
After Roxanne had reassured the paramedics, which a surprisingly concerned Doug had called, again that she wasn’t hurt or anything like that, she found herself in the middle of a group of journalists. While she was more than used to being on the other side of the microphone, she couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed by the attention and answered more than a few questions a bit shakily. She had felt safer in the midst of the battle.
“Did uhm… Metroman? Save me? Ah… Yes, I suppose you could say so”, she answered with a stutter, and tried to subtly edge away from the microphone currently shoved in her face. The journalists were clamoring for her attention from all sides, and she could only make out a few questions in all that racket. The flashes of the cameras almost blinded her.
She had to get away.
“Yes, yes, no comment!” She finally snapped and ducked out of the way into the glass doors of the lobby, where she took a deep breath.
Finally. Roxanne didn’t know that she had just answered a question concerning her relationship with “Metroman” with an affirmative. And neither did she know what kind of results that would have….
Then again, the footage a now rehydrated Drew and she had tried to capture had almost been destroyed, but her role in the battle hat indeed ensured her first real newscast a week later. Most of her colleagues admired her bravery and expressed concern over Megamind’s threat, that somehow was now widely known.
(Roxanne speculated that Metroman was trying to get her to play along with his and Megaminds games. After all, a superhero needed a damsel he could save! And while it rankled somewhat, she could hardly blame him – it should be enough to secure her live footage of the next few battles at least, now that her career was steadily progressing!)
And while she certainly didn’t want to make light of it, a small part of her looked forward to seeing Megamind’s idea of “terrifying” …
“Minion.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Thank you again for ensuring that the news of the battle was broadcasted all over Metrocity simultaneously.”
“It is only thanks to that lady at the news station sir. She allowed me into the editing room, from where I could hack the network.”
“Ah, yes, her. Maybe we should ensure that her career remains steady… We wouldn’t want her to go, now that we finally have a newscaster that doesn’t run away screaming at our presence. And she would make an excellent damsel…”
Fin