Chapter 28: The Genetic Key
Gru's mind felt as though it were racing a mile a minute as he sat in the back of the Underminer's drill tank, barely evening noticing the loud rumbling of the vehicle in motion. His Minions were perched on the seats on either side of Gru while Lucy sat across from him, the still unconscious Jack-Jack leaning against her.
"Shouldn't you keep that brat tied up or something?" the Underminer questioned as he wandered into the room, his beady-eyed gaze focused on Jack-Jack.
"He's sedated," Lucy countered as she leveled a steely glare at the Underminer, "He won't be waking up any time soon."
"Honestly, if you ask me, we're better off offing the kid," Underminer stated as he continued to stare at Jack-Jack, "He's dangerous."
"Well, good thing we didn't ask you then," Lucy replied, cold steel entering her voice, "Enigma wants him alive."
"Enigma wants him, sure," Underminer corrected as he began reaching for Jack-Jack with one of his armored gauntlets, "But he never said alive or dead. Plus, I owe this brat payback for him and his family messing with my business."
Underminer was almost touching the boy when he froze as he felt something press against the small of his back. Glancing over his shoulder, the Underminer found Gru now looming over him, his freeze ray in his hand, the tip of which was shoved against the shorter villain's back. Gru's Minions had risen to their feet as well, and stood behind their boss, glaring daggers at the Underminer.
"I zink you should go back to driving," Gru stated in a cold, measured tone.
The Underminer stared at Gru for a moment before grinning.
"You know, I had heard you'd gone soft, Gru," Underminer commented, seemingly unperturbed by the weapon pointed at him, "But then again, you never did have the guts to do what was needed, did you?"
Gru said nothing as he continued to glare at the Underminer, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lucy lean forward and quietly lift something off of the Underminer's belt.
"I suppose you'd know a lot about going soft," Gru joked as he poked Underminer in the stomach with his gun.
The Underminer glared up at Gru in response to this before turning on his heel and marching back to the front of the drill tank.
"You okay?" Gru questioned as he looked back at Lucy while one of the Minions blew a raspberry in the direction the Underminer had gone.
"I could have handled him," Lucy replied drolly before she gave Gru a small smile, "But thanks all the same."
"What did you take off heem?" Gru inquired as he arched an eyebrow at Lucy.
"Exactly what we needed," Lucy replied as she held up an electronic component she had stolen off of the Underminer's belt.
"An electrical dooheeckey?" Gru asked, confusion clear on his face.
"It's the last component I needed to make the tracking signal," Lucy explained with a roll of her eyes, "This whole snafu bought me the time and opportunity to put it together. Now, I just need to finish building it and get it somewhere where the signal can pierce through the walls of Enigma's base, and we can call in the cavalry to put an end to this."
"That'sgreat!" Gru replied with a large grin, "The sooner we get out of here, the better."
"Yeah, though I doubt the heroes are going to be happy to see either of us," Lucy commented as she looked down at the unconscious Jack-Jack and gently ran a hand through his hair.
"Tell me about eet," Gru agreed with a sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I can't imageene what Mr. Incredible weell do to me when zis is all over."
Meanwhile,
"I'll kill him!" Bob roared as he stormed down the halls of Home Base, the agents and scientists of the AVL giving him a wide berth as he rolled past like a tornado, the rest of his family and Fred following in his wake, "I'll crush him like a tin can!"
Reaching the end of the hallway, Bob shoved a pair of doors open so hard that they cracked the walls on the other side as they slammed against them. In the meeting room beyond, Dicker, General Monger, and Director Ramsbottom all looked up at the noise and had the good sense to look nervous as the clearly enraged superhero entered the room.
"Which one of you!?" Bob shouted as he cut his glare across all three men while marching towards them, "Which one of you let him do it!?"
"Bob, I think you need to calm down," Dicker replied, cautiously rising to his feet as he held up his hands in an effort to soothe his furious friend.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Bob roared as he stopped directly in front of Dicker, looming over the smaller man, "My son has been kidnapped! Kidnapped by someone you three said was on our side!"
"Look, we're still trying to parse out what happened at your house ourselves," Dicker explained, his face paling even as fought to keep his voice even and calm, "But there has to be a reason for all of this. Agent Wilde wouldn't have done this without-"
"Your agent attacked my family!" Bob bellowed as he grabbed Dicker by the throat and lifted the man off the ground, "My family, Dicker!"
"That's enough, soldier!" Monger shouted, pointing a commanding finger at Bob, "Put him down! He's not the one you're angry at!"
"Oh, I'm plenty angry at him," Bob growled as he continued to glare at Dicker, whose face had begun to go a bit blue, before he lowered the smaller man to the ground and released his hold on his throat, letting Dicker gasp in a gulp of air as he stumbled back, "But I've also got a lot to go around."
"I understand why you're pissed, Bob," Monger assured him as he held up his hands placatingly, "You have every right to be. When we set up this plan, we had no idea that Gru and Wilde would pull something like this."
"We don't care what you think!" Helen exclaimed as she glared at the others in the room with red rimmed eyes, "What we want to know is how you're going to get our son back!"
"The fact of the matter, Mrs. Parr, is that we don't know anything more than we did before," Ramsbottom explained with a sigh, "We attempted to track the movements of Gru and Agent Wilde's car after fleeing the scene, but they appear to have rendezvoused with the Underminer and made their escape."
"So we literally have nothing then!?" Dash exclaimed as he threw his hands into the air in exasperation, "God, no wonder you guys were messing stuff up so much you needed to come to us for help!"
As her family continued to argue with the AVL's leadership, Violet wrapped her arms around herself and let out a sad, worried sigh. Catching sight of something out of the corner of her eye, Violet glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Fred step out of the room. Her brow furrowing in confusion, Violet spared her family a single glance before quietly following him.
"Fred?" Violet questioned as she slipped through the door and gently closed it behind her, "Where are you doing?"
"I just…." Fred said as he paused and turned to face Violet, keeping his gaze focused on the ground, "I figured this was….you know, a personal moment for your family. You don't want me hanging around."
"Honestly?" Violet replied as she walked up and took one of Fred's hands in hers, "I think I could really use someone to lean on right now."
"Violet, I'm so sorry," Fred apologized as he finally raised his gaze to meet hers, his gaze filled with shame.
"Why?" Violet asked as her brow creased together, "You didn't do anything wrong."
"I was there," Fred argued, his tone crestfallen as he dropped his gaze again, "I almost had him. If I had just been a little bit quicker, I could have saved Jack-Jack."
"Hey, don't do that to yourself," Violet said as she cupped one of Fred's cheeks with her hand, bringing his gaze up to hers again, "We all failed to save my brother."
"Yeah, but I can't help but feel like I was just in the way," Fred explained morosely, "I'm not like you guys. Since I don't have powers, I can't be ready at a moment's notice like you and your family. I'm not even a genius like most of my friends or my dad. I'm just….me, and that just wasn't enough today."
"I think you being you is plenty," Violet replied as she reached up and played with some of his hair.
"God, this is messed up," Fred commented with a sigh, "You're brother is the one who's been kidnapped but you're standing there listening to me whine."
"It's fine," Violet countered with a shake of her head, "Honestly, I'd rather have something else to focus my mind on right now."
Gently, Fred leaned forward and rested his forehead against Violet's, the young woman closing her eyes and taking his hand in hers, the pair just taking a moment to enjoy each other's company.
"Fred!" a voice called down the hall towards the couple bringing them back to reality, "Violet!"
Looking towards the voice, Violet and Fred spotted the rest of their teammates heading down the hallway towards them.
"Everyone's been running around like crazy," Susan said as she and the others reached the pair, "What's going on?"
"There was….an incident," Fred answered.
"What kind of incident?" Riley asked as her brow furrowed in confusion as she sensed the storm of emotion rolling off Fred and Violet.
"My baby brother Jack-Jack," Violet began to answer, before pausing as her breath hitched in her throat and she took a moment to collect herself before continuing, "He's been kidnapped."
A rumble of shock went through the crowd of superheroes as they processed what Violet had told them.
"How could this happen!?" Honey exclaimed as she covered her mouth in shock, "Who would do this!?"
"It was the Syndicate," Fred explained, "Specifically….it was Gru and Agent Wilde."
If the group had been shocked before, they were doubly so now, and slowly, one by one, they all turned to look at Megamind, who was staring at Fred with a completely flabbergasted expression.
"W-What?" Megamaind questioned weakly.
"Your friend kidnapped my little brother!" Violet snapped as he glared at Megamind, "I thought he was supposed to be a good guy!"
"He is!" Megamind exclaimed defensively, "I-I mean, he is for a bad guy. I-I have no idea why he would do something like this!"
"That should be fairly obvious," a new voice spoke up as Mirage stepped into the hall, her expression unreadable, "They did it to maintain their cover."
"Are you telling me that my little brother was kidnapped by a bunch of supervillains so that we could take down said supervillains?" Violet questioned, her attitude turning hostile as she glared at tMirage, who was walking down the hall towards the group, "Why would you think that?"
"Because I know Lucy," Mirage answered as she stopped in front of Violet, "Her parents were killed by supervillains, she wouldn't throw her lot in with them."
"Isn't that exactly what happened with you?" Violet spat hotly.
A shocked gasp went through the group as Mirage flinched back slightly and blinked in surprise. After a moment, Violet seemed to realize what she had said and she covered her mouth as her eyes went wide with terror.
"Oh my God, Mirage," Violet whispered, "I-I'm so sorry, I should never-"
"It's fine," Mirage cut her off, her expression becoming a cool, impassive mask.
Violet looked like she was going to say something else, but she was cut off as the door to the meeting room slammed open and Dash sped into the hall.
"Fred! Vi-" Dash began to say as he skidded to a halt, only to look around in bewilderment as he saw the other people gathered in the hall, "Oh, uh, everyone, I guess. You all need to come see this!"
"What?" Violet questioned as she looked at her brother in confusion, "What happened?"
"They're picking up some kind of signal!" Dash answered, "They think it's where Jack-Jack is!"
Meanwhile,
As the small, black square device pulsed in Lucy's hand, she wedged it into a small crevice in the volcanic rock that made up the walls of the vaulted central room of Enigma's hidden base, doing it behind her back as she leaned against the wall and observed the goings on. Gru, meanwhile, walked towards the gene resequencer with the still unconscious Jack-Jack in his arms and his Minions at his heels, where Enigma stood looking at the machine.
"You know Gru, when I first heard you were sniffing around, looking for a job, I wasn't sure you still had it in you," Enigma said, still looking at the gene resequencer as he spoke, "I was worried you were past your prime, that those stories about you stealing the moon had been exaggerated."
Pausing, Enigma turned around to face Gru, his glowing red eye focusing on the other man as he pointed at him with his metal hand.
"But I've got to tell you, Gru," Enigma considered, his tone turning more jovial, "You've still got it! Maybe not as smooth as we would have wanted, but what job ever is? The point is you got it done!"
"Er, yeah," Gru agreed with a chuckle, "I mean, we almost died a couple of times, but hey, meession accompleeshed."
As Gru spoke, his gaze drifted to the unconscious toddler in his arms.
"So, what exactly was zees all about, anyway?" Gru replied as he looked back at Enigma, "What do you need a superpowered toddler for?"
"Ah, I was hoping you'd ask that question," Enigma replied before he motioned towards Phantasma, who walked up to Gru and held out her hands, offering to take Jack-Jack from him.
Gru hesitated for a moment, clutching Jack-Jack protectively against his chest as the Minions looked at Phantasma warily. But after noticing the suspicious look that Phantasma was now giving him, Gru reluctantly handed over the boy.
"It's...well, incredible really," Enigma commented with an amused chuckle and a shake of his as he took Jack-Jack from Phantasma and held the boy out in front of him, "All of this relies on one little boy."
"What do you mean?" Gru questioned as he eyed Enigma suspiciously.
"This kid is unique, even among supers," Enigma explained as he turned towards the gene resequencer, which began to hum as it drew in power, "His DNA is incredibly unstable, which grants him a wide variety of superpowers. A combination that should tear him apart at the cellular level. But it doesn't."
As Enigma spoke, he walked towards the gene resequencer, the door opening as he approached. As he did, Jack-Jack began to stir in his arms, slowly awakening from his sedation.
"The gene resequencer was designed to combine genes from disparate species," Enigma continued as he placed Jack-Jack on the floor of the pod, "But in order to do that, it has to be able to identify the genes in question."
"So, you're goeeng to do what?" Gru questioned, his eyes focused on Jack-Jack as Enigma stepped away and the door to the pod closed with a hiss, "Use the macheene to feegure out ze gene zat holds heem together?"
"Exactly," Enigma confirmed, watching as Jack-Jack sat up and began rubbing his eyes, "You see, while the gene resequencer is still a miracle of modern science, but it has its limits. If the genes you're attempting to splice are too incompatible, whatever hybrid you try to make will degrade into a pile of genetic goo sooner or later. Theoretically, that's what should have happened to this, and if I can find out why it hasn't….well, I could do just about anything."
At this point, Jack-Jack had fully woken up, and was looking around the pod in confusion.
"W-Where am I?" Jack-Jack asked groggily as he stood up and continued looking around in confusion, "H-How did I get here?"
Walking up to the pod door, Jack-Jack attempted to find the handle, but none had been built on the inside.
"Hello?" Jack-Jack called as he knocked on the door, "The…The door won't open! Can I come out?"
In response, Enigma waved a hand at the mercenary standing near the console controlling the gene resequencer, prompting the man to nod and pull a switch on the device. In response, the gene resequencer began to hum more intensely, and the lights in the pod glowed brighter.
"W-What's happening!?" Jack-Jack exclaimed as he looked around the pod, noting small bolts of electricity that began arcing across the metal surface as his hair began to stand on end, "I want to come out!"
Still receiving no response, Jack-Jack closed his eyes tightly before he vanished in a flash of blue light. A split second later, he reappeared in another flash and slammed into the side of the pod, causing a jolt of electricity to strike him before he bounced back to the floor with a cry of pain. Pushing himself back to his feet, Jack-Jack glared at the pod door, causing his eyes to glow green before a pair of green laser beams shot out. As the beams struck the pod door, another flash of energy discharged from the walls, causing Jack-Jack to scream in alarm as he lifted his hands to shield his face. Snarling in anger and frustration, Jack-Jack clenched his hands into fists as skin turned bright red before he transformed into his monstrous form, tearing his pants and ripping off his shirt in the process. With a savage roar, Jack-Jack leapt at the door, slamming his larger fists against it in an attempt to beat it down, ignoring the flashes of electricity that shot off the walls with every blow.
From outside, Enigma's mercenary guards began to grow wary of the sounds coming from within the pod, pointing their weapons at the gene resequencer as a large dent formed in the pod door.
"Now, now, none of that," Enigma chided, holding up his robotic arm as he signaled for the men to stand down, "He'll wear himself out soon enough."
Inside the pod, Jack-Jack took a step back before he leapt forward and slammed his shoulder against the door, denting it even further but causing an even bigger discharge of energy that struck him and slammed him back to the floor. As Jack-Jack cried out in pain, his skin returned to its normal shade and he shrunk back to his regular size.
"Mommy!" Jack-Jack cried as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees, tears now streaming down his cheeks, "Daddy! S-Somebody help me!"
Standing behind Enigma, Gru stared at the gene resequencer in horror as the scene played out in front of him, his hands curling into fist and squeezing so tight his knuckles popped. After a moment, the Minion Stuart began to move towards the door, but was stopped as Kevin grabbed him by the arm and held him in place. Stepping up next to Gru, Lucy laid a hand on his arm, prompting him to glance over at her, his eyes meeting her understanding gaze and his fist loosening once more.
"Sir!" the mercenary by the console called, "The machine is at full power!"
"Do it," Enigma replied, his gaze focused on the gene resequencer.
In response, the mercenary pushed a large, red button on the console, causing another burst of energy to shoot into the machine, which in turn caused a bright flash of light that flooded out of the pod and throughout the chamber, illuminating Enigma's scarred visage beneath his hood, showing the villain grinning wildly at the scene before him. The burst of energy also elicited a scream of pain and terror from Jack-Jack, causing Gru to whip his head back around and stare at the pod in horror.
And somewhere deep in his soul, Gru knew that sound would haunt him for the rest of his days.
A/N: So, it's been awhile since I've done any updates, but sometimes life gets in the way and you've got to get the writing done where you can. So thanks for sticking with me and I hope you all enjoyed this brief but impactful chapter! As usual, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!