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Chapter Two: Healing and Gestation

Gru was in a comparatively better state. He was back in Los Alamos in the two-flat he was renting for his current operations, had a proper cast on that was propped up in his easy chair, and the new round of pain medication was far less cognitively invasive and he had more energy. "No, I have no idea what it is," he spoke into a battery phone with his slick East European accent. "No, I told you, I fucked that up, had to get out of there pronto and there was no fire escape, so I jumped." A muddled comment cracked from the other end of the line. He grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I dunno why I grabbed it, but I'd like to find out what it is."

The voice lowered and took on an instructive tone. Gru was ready, with a notebook and a pencil, he jotted it down. "Where could I get that?" he would occasionally interrupt. When he felt he had enough information, the clock above the TV read an hour after the start of the call. Gru wasn't known for his patience, but the canister that was still running on its own power had possessed his imagination. After losing a lucrative heist, he couldn't help but wonder if it was useful to his interests, or if he could make it so. "Yes, I think I got it all," he reassured his caller. "This isn't exactly my specialty, but with things how they are I'm not about to leave a stone unturned." The caller took on an inquisitive tone. "Yes, I could show it to you," Gru said with unusual trust, "you might even get to fine-tune it, in case I missed something." The caller seemed satisfied and was ready to end the phone session. "Yes, yes," Gru replied, "It's been good doing business with you, looking forward to it, Doctor Nefario." He hung up, feeling energized despite the medication and his injury.

Gru quickly whipped out a blueprint of the life support device based off of the notes, and assembled it as the materials were made available. Some things he already had, some of it was hired in, and some parts were delivered by his new acquaintance. The two men worked against the clock fabricating the device before the canister's own life support was drained of its power. Not knowing how big the sample would grow, they used a cylinder tank that was the size of a water cooler. The system wasn't too big to run off of the two-flat's power feed, and Gru made a note of wiring up some car batteries for back up. "So, Doctor," Gru asked, "are you proficient with this bio tech stuff?"

"No," the older man with wispy, silver hair replied casually, "more of a hobby, I'm really more in your league, ballistics, fabrication, -oh, I also do robotics."

"Ah," Gru replied. "Sooo, you design your own, too?"

"I do," Nefario said tentatively, "but I've found that I get more out of taking an existing plan and figuring out how to make it work. Like how some folks get a rise out of puzzles, if a designer wanted to do something but fell short of it on the blueprint, I like troubleshooting what was missed."

"Ha!" Gru barked humorously. "I'm just the opposite; I get so frustrated when I get a speed bump like that. Sure, I can figure them out most of the time, but oh-ho, I get pissy."

"Common designer's fault," Nefario muttered flatly. "It's the world in our heads versus the world out there," he made an outward sweeping gesture with his left arm. "Classroom versus field, what looks good on paper and what looks good in action."

"Ugh, tell me about it," Gru painfully remembered his heist. "Is that why you've muscled in on most of the assembly here?"

"You're a good designer, Gru," Nefario politely critiqued, "but yes, I've had to administer some quality control, to put it nicely." He paused. "But,..you're still young. Right now you're just clever, but stick around long enough, the wisdom will creep in and find you, then you'll be old like me." He finished with a grin. Gru still wasn't used to this kind of personal insight, but he was still able to give the man's talking point a chuckle of assent.

After Nefario left, Gru stared at the tank ambiently lit by the indicator lights. The embryo was the size of a pea, it had a stereotypical embryo shape, and it already had primitive eyes and nub-like appendages. What struck Gru the most was its weird color, a yellow; semi opaque with the intensity of a fish that you might find in the Great Barrier Reef, or a luxury aquarium. The creature was a chordate, but what? A fish? A quadruped? Something more humanoid? If things went well, he would find out soon enough. With the help of the office stool, Gru was able to clean up after the assembly and put his tools away. Not long after he finished the phone rang again. He picked it up to check the caller ID on the small gray screen.

GRU, MARLENA

Perfect. What better way to wrap up a day's work than a generous dose of motherly ball-busting?

"Hello, Mom," he groaned into the receiver, wishing that last dose of pain medication was an elephant tranquilizer.