Roxanne could see far too clearly how hurt and broken the Megamind she knew might be after getting out. Especially is the time she’d interviewed him was a common day for him behind bars. What Harrison described, however, had Roxanne balking.
“Grew up in prison?” she had to have misunderstood that, “No one grows up in prison. You mean you spent a lot of time in juvy?” that wouldn’t account for the orange jumpsuit or shiv comment. Frowning she tried to find some logical reason and fail. Brows furrowed in confusion she implored him for an explanation.
Harrison cocked his head in confusion and frowned. “No, I spent my childhood there. I was two and a half when I came to this planet, give or take in the conversion between our years and yours. My pod landed in the yard and I grew up inside. I did go to public school briefly, I mean, I wasn’tentirely locked up. Sometimes the warden would take me on outings for good behavior. But I stayed until I was 18 and left for college. It’s another commonality between myself and other Megaminds, most of us were raised in prisons or jails.”
He chewed his bottom lip. “Of all the blue men I know, I was the oldest when I arrived. My husbands Megamind was 8 days old when he crashed into his prison, so he didn’t even have the benefit of the first few years with loving parents. If you want to delve into the psyche of how someone ends up a supervillain, I’d start there.”
“What do you mean ‘grew up inside’ and ‘good behavior’? Who would let a child be kept in a prison?” the look on Roxanne’s face had become one of complete horror. The Megamind she knew had grown up like this too? “That’s insane! A baby doesn’t belong in prison. Not even juvy and especially not maximum security. That can’t be the truth,” her eyes closed tightly she implored him, “It can’t be.”
The very idea made her feel sick. That wasn’t in any of the literature or writing about Megamind. Nowhere was it mentioned. All the news had started with teenage escapades and a grudge match with Metro Dude. She hadn’t even encountered the pair until she’d moved back to Metro City after college and her younger years had been split between here with her mom and whichever city her dad had currently been in. Her mind painted a horrible image, replacing the Megamind she’d seen in prison with a tiny, helpless blue child. Locked up while she’d been learning her times tables and braiding hair.
Harrison has seen this reaction before, though he’s surprised to see it from a Roxanne. Was that not common knowledge in her universe? Or maybe her Megamind got started on a different path?
“You have to understand that as a child, I was far more frightened of being the victim of alien experimentation than I was of the men I met in jail. Yes there were absolutely some unsavory characters, but being in prison kept me safe from a world that seemed hostile and overwhelming to a child. I had a group of devoted ‘uncles’ and even a few ‘aunties’ who made sure I was always safe and supported. As I got older, I spent more time with the warden and the admin staff in his office or doing my correspondence courses in the library than mingling in gen pop. It may seem unorthodox to you….” Harrison shrugged, “but it was home. Those people were my family and I don’t look back on that time with fear or regret.”
“To keep you safe? There isn’t anything safe about the inside of a prison,” Roxanne looked at Harrison like he’d grown a second head, “There had to be a better option than keeping a baby in prison. That’s gross negligence!”
At this point she was on her feet, arms crossed as she paced. Brows creased with deep lines, “I don’t care that you think you turned out alright, people who grow up in abusive homes think that behavior is normal too. Even if someone who survived that upbringing turned into a wonderful person, it does not excuse the abuse they suffered,” in her mind there was no way that growing up in prison didn’t equal mental and potentially physical abuse, “And obviously it wasn’t fine if all the Megaminds turned into super villains,” she rounded on him, a fiery passion growing in her chest, “Warden Woodridge knows about this?”
RP backup 