Thanks to those who reviewed in the previous chapter. Again, apologies for the long wait, but for me, it's been a long, long week. Let's just say, revising sucks.
Anyway, I hope this was worth the wait.
Chapter Two -
Preparations
"A road trip?" Lucy repeated, looking at Gru with a slightly stunned expression.
"Yeah!" Gru cheered, his eyes shining bright with euphoria. Compared to how incredibly irate he seemed a moment ago, this elated mood was certainly unexpected and peculiar. "Why not!?"
"Well...because you're the director of an organization that's gotta protect the world." Lucy stated, in the same tone that a person would say 'duh'. "I mean, we can't just get up and leave for a few days."
"Lucy, theenk about eet." Gru argued, strutting up to her. Even though he was trying to convey his point and make her change her mind, he was struggling to stifle his lingering grin. "When was de last time we went on a vacation?"
"A few months ago." Lucy proclaimed, twisting her expression. "Y'know, when we met your twin brother."
"Okay, okay, let me rephrase de question." Gru countered, holding the bridge of his nose. "When was de last time we went on a vacation, where de gurls weren't keednapped and de city wasn't half destroyed?"
"Oh, well..." Lucy replied, turning away for a moment. "Never."
"Exactly!" Gru exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. "Well, how about we rectify dat?"
Huffing, Lucy dropped her shoulders and darted her gaze around the room, showing she was clearly racking her mind senseless.
"I dunno, Gru." She sighed. "Like I said, what are we gonna do about the AVL? Head-office will kill you if the city gets attacked while we're gone."
"I don't care what head-office theenks, Lucy." Gru declared uncaringly, rolling his eyes in clear mental fatigue. "I just need to get away for a few days. Eef dey have a problem weeth dat, den dey can stuff deir stupeed director job."
Lucy only offered him a concerned glare. This was very much unlike Gru. Usually, he would care for his occupation and take it extremely seriously, but on this occasion, he didn't seem too bothered about the possibility of losing it.
Maybe he was right. Maybe he did need to get away. Lucy had been worried about her husband's sanity ever since the stress signs started emerging. The final straw had to be his over-the-phone rage-induced outburst at the army base a month back. In terms of remedies, a family road trip may be a very good idea.
And plus, excluding the Freedonia trip, it had been a very long time since she'd been on a proper vacation. The last time was with her ex-boyfriend, and that one was a bit of a bust. They went abroad to Tenerife, the largest of the canary islands, and they were plagued by a huge rain-storm the entire time, practically destroying any chance of having fun.
This time, not only would she be with a much, much better partner, but she would also have three amazing daughters to have fun with. How could she possibly pass up on such an opportunity?
"Sooooo..." Gru sang, breaking the silence that had involuntarily built up. In an attempt to persuade her, he pulled one of the most pleading expressions he'd ever produced. "Are yoo een?"
"Well...don't say I didn't warn you." Lucy started, shrugging. "I'm in!"
"Yes!" The director cheered, fist pumping the air. He proceeded to dart around the room ecstatically, rummaging through a multitude of drawers and cupboards in search of their suitcase. "Here's de plan, den! I'll get de preparations ready, while yoo go distract everyone else. I want dis to be a surprise."
"Got it." Lucy replied, nodding. She started towards the bedroom door, but just before she disappeared out of the room, she turned back to look at her husband once more.
He looked as happy and bubbly as a young child who'd just been promised a lifetime of candy. And judging by the smile that slowly spread across Lucy's face, his joy seemed to be contagious.
This family road trip was starting to excite her just as much as it was exciting Gru, and the possibility of taking a breather from work was beginning to appeal to her. Don't get her wrong, she loves her job and the thought of slogging in a different job was awful, but everyone needs a break every once and a while.
She just hoped everything went right...
The owner of the bank of evil, Mr. Perkins, sat at his large and intimidating desk, spinning his weary gaze around the office. The expansive room had changed a large amount over the past few months, what with most of the furniture and decorative pieces being sold and auctioned for financial gain. Things within the villainy world were getting a lot rougher, and thus, money was at an all-time low.
Now that his son had been defeated, the strong and burly El Macho had been jailed, the quirky and old-school Balthazar Bratt had been thwarted, the commanding and viciously devilish IVB had met its demise, and the classy and crafty Venin had been thrown to his death from a large military tower, villainy was beginning to get less popular and more saturated.
And who was the person responsible?
Felonious Gru.
The man simply didn't know when to quit.
When Vector managed to get his hands on the shrunken moon, what did he do? Put it back in its place.
When El Macho managed to create a band of vicious purple minions, what did he do? Cure them.
When the IVB finally had a good chance of destroying the AVL once and for all, what did he do? Save the headquarters.
The list goes on and on, and now, Perkins was finally at his limit. He was sick and tired of hearing that same old news report, the one where Gru saves the world from yet another crazy villain and their equally-as-crazy plan, especially considering that one of them was about his very own son.
And on the subject of Vector, Perkins was quite excited for him to arrive. It had been a fair few weeks since he'd last seen him, and even though he was still a little annoyed about the whole moon-thing, that didn't mean that he never wanted to see him again.
Vector had been through a lot since that event. For some reason, all of those days that he'd spent on the moon before getting rescued took a very large toll on him. When he came back to earth, he started going a little crazy, to the point where he was becoming a lot more erratic than normal. His lack of stability was so severe in fact, that he had to go to multiple therapists and health check-ups until he was okay again.
Now that he was regaining his mental state, Perkins was finally ready to move forward with his plan. He'd completely given up on hearing other villains plans, since most of them were stupidly amateur schemes with little to no substance delivered by a punky teenager who thinks they're better than the world. No, instead, he wanted to create his own evil plans...
...and it was time for Gru to get his comeuppance.
"Sir." A female voice suddenly spoke up, startling Mr. Perkins out of his thoughts. Clearing his throat and shaking his head back into reality, the large man planted a finger on the speaker's button and replied.
"Yes?"
"Your son is here." The secretary stated. Smiling evilly, Perkins didn't waste any time in responding.
"Send him in."
After a fairly short wait, the door to the office opened up, and Vector strolled in. Since the therapy sessions, he'd opted for a change in lifestyle, and thus, his attire was a lot different than the orange jumpsuit he'd adorned previously. Now, he wore a simple white tank top, which was covered in junk food stains, and dark blue jeans, which had small holes growing in them.
In fact, the change in lifestyle was so impacting, that he'd practically ditched villainy as a whole. He was beginning to find lounging around playing video games a lot more fulfilling than carrying out evil plots and schemes, and so, he'd adopted the former full-time.
He obviously wasn't regretting that decision.
"Hey, dad." Vector greeted nonchalantly, strutting proudly across the room. The sound of loose-change jingling in his pockets while he walked was irritatingly loud.
"Hello there, Victor." Mr. Perkins responded. "You're looking...smart, today."
"Mm-hmm." Vector hummed nonchalantly, not seeming too bothered that he was using his 'nerd-name'. Flashbacks of his reaction a long while back flickered in Perkins's mind, and somewhere deep inside, it saddened him slightly. His son had changed so much since Gru had beaten him, and it was making him resent the AVL director that huge-chunk more. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes." Mr. Perkins responded, nodding his head. While Vector took a seat in front of the desk, Perkins spun around a little in his chair, rubbing his chin in pretend contemplation. "I had just been thinking that...it's been quite a while since I last saw you."
"Uh-huh." Vector responded, lifting his hands to check under his nails. This new, completely casual attitude that he'd embraced, which was better suited on a pubescent teenager, was a frustrating trait in Perkins's eyes.
"It has also been quite a while since you've carried out any evil plots," He continued, spinning around again until he was completely facing his son. Vector simply rolled his eyes and slouched in his chair, looking quite annoyed. "And I was thinking that we could-"
"Y'know what, stop right there!" Vector exclaimed, putting a hand up to silence him. "We've been over this, dad! That isn't who I am any more! Forget asking me to do any evil plans or plots or schemes or...whatever you wanna call it! All that villainy stuff is just so bor-"
"You did NOT let me finish!" Perkins hissed, almost scaring Vector out of his skin. "I don't really care if that 'isn't who you are any more'! I brought you up to be a villain, and whether you like it or not, that is the life you will lead!"
"You can't control me!" Vector reprimanded, jumping up from his seat. "I ain't some little kid anymore, dad! You only have one life and I wanna lead it the way that I want to! Not by the way that you tell me to!"
"So what, you want to play video-games for the rest of your life!?" Perkins exclaimed, also electing to stand up out of his seat, in order to use his height advantage as an intimidation factor.
"If that's what I wanna do, then that's what I'm gonna do!" Vector stated authoritatively, trying with all of his might to push back his fear. The way in which his heart was banging in his chest wasn't helping in that regard. "You can complain all you want, you can't change who I am!"
"Fine! Waste your life away if that's what you want, but don't come crying to me when everything falls apart!" Perkins scolded angrily. Instead of responding, Vector simply narrowed his eyes and turned around, making his way towards the exit door. Huffing, Perkins sat back down on his chair and turned away, staring deeply at the bank vault behind his desk. "I guess I'll find someone else to help me take down Gru."
The moment that his name hit the air, Vector stopped dead still, as if he suddenly transformed into a statue made of stone. Very slowly, he turned back to his father's desk with a fiery frown, looking like he wanted to tear everything around him apart in anger.
"Felonious Gru?" Vector questioned, perking his head to the side. Perkins spun back around in his chair and grinned devilishly, obviously feeling victorious.
"Mm-hmm." He replied, nodding. Balling his fists, Vector ceased eye-contact and darted his gaze at the floor, imagining the former villain's face in his mind. Not taking his line-of-sight away from the floorboards, Vector growled underneath his breath, which was quite timid and generally not frightening, before finally continuing.
"I'm in."
Jack was sat at the desk in his bedroom, staring intently at the online video that was being played on the laptop. In his hands, were a packet of ready salted chips, which he was occasionally digging into. He couldn't help but smile as he leaned back further into his chair, admiring the fact that he was using the laptop for something other than mind-numbing research.
However, at that point, the door to his bedroom opened up and Gru came dashing in, dropping his shoulders in slight relief once he spied the laptop on the desk.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Jack sneered, rolling his eyes and huffing as he set the bag of chips down.
"Are yoo eateeng again?" Gru inquired, sharing his baffled look between the teenager and the junk food.
"I'm still hungry." Jack replied, shrugging, as if he didn't understand the issue. Once he'd spied the shade of red in Gru's cheeks, which was due to the fatigue from his speedy searching, he sat up and offered him a sheepish look. "You still mad about the mess?"
"Hmph...a leetle." Gru informed, frowning as he remembered the absolute onslaught of trash downstairs.
"Well, I just wanna let you know that we cleaned it all up." Jack said, giving him a small smile. In return, Gru smiled back, but only until the teen continued. "And by 'we' I mean, Dru cleaned it up, while I supervised."
Rolling his eyes and rubbing his sweaty forehead, Gru chose to ignore him and concentrate on the original reason for coming in here.
"I need de laptop." He stated, pointing at the device on the desk. Instead of handing it over like Gru thought he would, Jack glanced at the laptop for a moment, before looking back at his dad with a strange gaze.
"I'm using it."
"Yes, but...I need eet." Gru replied, irritation seeping into his voice.
"But I'm using it." Jack repeated, not seeming to care about the look of urgency on his face. The AVL director huffed with exasperation and gripped the bridge of his nose, before continuing in almost a pleading voice.
"Ugh...please, Jack, could yoo just give eet to me?" He spoke, offering a beseeching gaze.
"Well, what do you need it for?" Jack asked, sitting back with a small grin. He was clearly pleased that he was in a power position, one of which he wasn't going to pass up.
"Eet's none of your business." Gru grumbled, still gripping the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"Hmm...that's not gonna do, Gru." Jack replied, turning away with a fake look of displeasure. "I'm gonna need a lot more info than that if you want this laptop."
"Ugh...fine! Eet's top secret AVL stuff dat yoo wouldn't understand." He responded quickly, getting more and more skittish as time went by. This time, Jack simply cocked his head to the side and gave a Gru a 'are you being serious' look.
"Gru, I work for the AVL. Remember?" He replied. "If it's work-related then I wanna know what's going on."
"Right, yoo've lead me to dis!" Gru exclaimed, putting a finger in his face. Without warning, he turned around and opened the door a crack, as to allow him to call down the hallway. "Ohhhhhh, Agnes! Jack said dat he wants to play unicornnnssss!"
Upon hearing the distant sounds of high-pitched cheering, Gru grinned evilly and turned back to the eighteen-year-old, who had his arms crossed and was frowning with rage.
"Uhhh...I theenk yoo are needed." He said, struggling to stifle a devilish cackle. Groaning with both defeat and vexation, Jack got up from his seat and stormed out of the room, but not before turning back and handing Gru one last threat.
"I'm gonna get you back for that!" He fumed, as Gru continued to smirk with victory.
"Yeah, yeah. Eef yoo say so." He responded mockingly. Jack simply stuck out his tongue in retaliation before leaving the room promptly. Not wanting to waste any more time, Gru leaped over and snatched the laptop from the table-top, before dashing out of the room at pace.
Jack walked into the girl's bedroom with a fatigued slog, where inside, Margo and Edith were conversing on the former's bomb bed, while Agnes was frantically rummaging through her closet. The moment that her brother walked into the room, Edith lifted her head and gave him a disgusted look, as if she were a member of the royal family looking down on a peasant.
"You want to play unicorns?" She questioned with a grimace.
"Nuh-uh." Jack replied defensively, trudging over to them. "Gru just lied to steal the laptop from me."
"So then, why did you go along with it?" Margo asked, handing him an intrigued look. After she voiced her question, Agnes came speeding out of the closet with an arm-full of unicorn toys and sparkly dresses, which she proceeded to dump on the floor.
The look of complete and utter joy on her face was extremely cute.
"That's why." He replied simply, nodding his head in her direction.
"Which one d'ya wanna be?" Agnes questioned, as she happily jumped on the spot. Jack stared down at the frightening amount of glittery girly dresses, which, to make things worse, were all colored pink, and winced.
"Uh...anyone that doesn't involve dressing up." He replied.
"Ummm..." Agnes hummed, as she kneeled down and started rummaging through the pile of dresses and toys. "If you be the unicorn butler, you only have to put on a horn."
She lifted up a strap-on unicorn horn, which was covered in hearts and glitter, and presented it to Jack, who seemed far from pleased with that option.
"Agnes, I'm down for pretending to be a unicorn, but looking like a unicorn is going too far." He said, scowling at the girly object in the small girl's hands. "Can't we just...play hide and seek or something?"
"Awwww! But I wanna play unicorns!" Agnes groaned loudly, stamping her foot in a sulk. Huffing, and already tired of arguing, Jack reluctantly held out his hand and frowned deeply.
"Ugh, fine." He muttered. "Just give me the horn."
Cheering with elation, Agnes handed the sparkly monstrosity to the teenager, who gave it an exceedingly disgusted look. For a few seconds, all he could do was stare at it and wish that he could somehow erase it from existence. The very thought of putting it on his head made him want to gag.
Finally, after a small amount of mental preparation, the teenager let out an exhausted sigh before unwillingly strapping it to his head. Once he had done, Edith started hysterically laughing and pointing at him, only making Jack's frown grow larger. Agnes, on the other hand, seemed delighted.
"I call the unicorn princess!" She screeched quickly, as she pulled out the sparkliest and girliest dress in the pile, coupled with yet another fake unicorn horn. Not wanting to waste any precious pretending time, she speedily put the dress over her blue and yellow overalls, and proceeded to twirl around in happiness.
Jack, who was clearly overwhelmed by the uncomfortable amount of glitter and pink, desperately needed to take a very long and uninterrupted breather, in order to keep a hold of his sanity.
"Right, here's what's going down then." He started, kneeling down to her level. "The evil wizard of the living room plains has kidnapped your husband, the unicorn prince!"
Agnes gave a fake gasp of complete shock, which coupled with her pretend facial expression, was enough to make Jack chuckle slightly.
"I know. It's shocking." He continued. "Anyway, your job is to travel to the plains and take him back from the wizard, while the unicorn butler stays and protects the castle from any more evil bad-guys. Understand?"
"Uh-huh!" Agnes responded giddily, as she rapidly nodded her head up and down in excitement.
"Good." Jack stated. "Now, get going, before it's too late."
At pace, Agnes sprinted out of the room and started towards the living room, seeming intensely determined to find and save her pretend unicorn husband.
However, in reality, she would most likely head downstairs, pretend to search for him for ten minutes, before getting bored and playing with the nearest toy she could find.
Sighing with slight relief, Jack stood back up and turned to his other two siblings, one of whom was rolling around on her bomb bed and sporting flushed cheeks due to the uncontrollable laughter. In annoyance, the teen grabbed the unicorn horn and flung it to the floor, before moving to stand over her.
"Would you shut up!" He snapped. Edith simply responded by sticking out her tongue, as she finally calmed down and sat back up, giving her brother enough space to sit down beside her.
"Why would you put that on for?" She asked, still giggling a little.
"Cuz it's easier than arguing, Edith." Jack mumbled, rubbing his forehead. The need for sleep was obviously extremely apparent. "Plus it's only a horn. Thank god I didn't have to wear one of those god-forbidden sparkly dresses."
Jack continued trying to rub the tired out of his eyes, which he was failing at, before re-opening them and looking over at the bespectacled twelve-year-old within the room. She was sitting on her bomb bed with her arms crossed and wearing an enraged frown. Considering recent events, it didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce the reason why.
"So, Margo?" Jack started, making her turn towards him slightly. "Why did you punch that kid?"
"He took Agnes's unicorn." She muttered, shrugging. "Plus he said something about Edith. I wasn't gonna let him get away with that."
"Good." Jack replied, proceeding to turn to Edith. "What did he say about you?"
"Just sumin' about my hat." She responded, looking back at her brother with a humorous smile. "Margo punched him before he could finish, though."
Jack chuckled and looked back to the twelve-year-old, who still seemed ashamed and angry at herself. Inside, he actually got a little defensive for her. There's no need to be ashamed of yourself after you stand up for your siblings.
"Don't worry about it, Margo." He said. "I would've done the same. If you don't teach 'em a lesson, then they'll just keep doing it."
"Do you think dad's mad at me?" She asked, ignoring his reassurance.
"Probably," Edith replied. "But he's mad at me as well, so...who cares?"
"Why did he get so angry, though?" Jack questioned out loud, looking at the ground perplexingly. "I mean, you've only failed five times. I failed like...twenty times when I was at school."
"I don't think he likes being director." Margo wondered out loud. "He always looks so tired when he comes back from work."
"Why wouldn't he like being director?" Edith asked. "Kicking butts all day sounds awesome."
"It isn't what you think it is, Edith." Jack claimed. "Like, twenty percent of it is kicking butts. The rest is super boring stuff like paperwork."
"Why does he keep doing it then?" Edith questioned again.
"I dunno. If I was him, I'd just go back to being an agent. Then you get to fight villains all day long without all the boring stuff."
"Dinners ready." A female voice called suddenly, as Lucy's head appeared from the door. All three of them turned to her with slight surprise, but upon realizing that it was just their mother, returned to their previous causal state.
"It is?" Jack inquired, offering her a confused glare. "But...I just gave Gru the laptop. How can he use that and cook dinner at the same time?"
"Uh...because he didn't cook dinner." She replied, looking a little nervous. "I did."
"You cooked dinner?" Margo questioned, seeming a mix of afraid and befuddled.
"Uh-huh." Lucy confirmed, nodding.
"And you're sure you can, like...actually eat it?" Margo asked again, dropping her head a little. Lucy, who had a history of cooking terrible tasting food, rolled her eyes and huffed, trying to pass off all the doubts as just stupid jokes.
In reality, however, Margo's fear was completely genuine, and all of her questions were far from jokes. Unsurprisingly, she didn't fancy getting poisoned by Lucy's cooking.
"Of course!" Lucy stated loudly, grinning. "Come on, just give me a chance."
All three of them shrugged, jumped up from the bomb beds, and then started towards the door. However, just before he and the girls left, Jack stopped and took his smartphone out from his pocket, where he started pressing his finger upon the screen.
"Let me just get the ambulance on standby." He said sardonically, while Margo and Edith giggled. As he continued to press buttons for a few seconds, Lucy crossed her arms and frowned at him, beginning to wonder if he was actually being serious.
"Don't worry, I'm kidding." He reassured, putting his phone back in his pocket and smirking as the redhead rolled her eyes and left the room. However, once she'd disappeared, Jack took it back out and ensured that 911 was definitely on speed-dial. "Although, it wouldn't hurt to be safe..."
Thankfully, after the whole family, except for Gru, ate the meal, no hospital trips for food poisoning were required. However, the food still, somehow, tasted as bland as tap-water, and it was a slog at times to finish it.
Now though, the girls and Jack were playing upstairs, Dru was working with Dr. Nefario in the lab, and Lucy was sitting quietly in the living room, reading a book. At the moment, her husband couldn't be found anywhere in the house, and although she didn't have enough time to search the entire lab, Lucy was fairly sure he'd gone out somewhere.
This road trip idea had clearly tickled him, and that fact alone was enough to do the same to Lucy. He'd been so stressed and tired over the past few weeks, and she was happy to see him jubilant and excited again, even if that may cause a few fatigue problems later on down the line.
But, the trip wasn't just exciting Gru, it was also exciting Lucy to no-end as well. Ideas of the many different activities that her and the girls could participate in were spinning around her head like a hurricane, and she was itching to get started.
She was also itching to tell everyone about it. They were sure to get extremely excited, and nothing else pleased her more than seeing everyone in her family smile with joy.
Soon enough, the sound of the front door opening could be heard, and only a moment later, Gru came dashing into the room. His cheeks were a dark shade of red and his mouth was curled into an overly contented smile, which made him look a mix of exhausted and elated.
"Woah, woah. Slow down, sweetie." She spoke up, giggling a little as he thundered his way over to the couch. "You're gonna give yourself a heart-attack."
"Lucy!" Gru exclaimed, jogging a little on the spot. "Have yoo put de gurls to bed yet!?"
"Uh...no, not yet." She replied, offering him a questioning expression. "I was gonna give them another half-hour."
"Good!" Gru cheered promptly. He raced over and picked up the laptop from the coffee table, before sprinting back to the couch and putting it in Lucy's lap, startling her slightly. "Look at what I bought!"
Lucy gave him another bewildered look, which must've been the twentieth one she'd given him that day, before obliging and opening the device up. On the screen, an eBay listing for a huge campervan coupled with a large descriptive text box caught her eye.
It detailed that the van sported a TV, a mini kitchen, a toilet, a table and four different small sofas. Not only that, but the image showed that there was clearly enough space for more than seven people, and overall, it looked perfect for a long family road trip.
"Wow." Lucy cooed, giving the web-listing a wide-eyed stare. "That looks...amazing. How much did it cost?"
"Eh, eet's not eemportant." Gru replied, shrugging, which pretty much guaranteed that he splurged an ungodly amount of cash on it. "Eet's got everytheeng dat we need, so dat's all dat matters."
"Uh...if...you say so." Lucy responded. "So, when are you gonna get it from them?"
"I already have!" Gru cheered loudly. "Dey only lived a few miles away, so I got eet from dem just now."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh!" Gru replied happily, nodding. "I've also done all of de planneeng and got all of our theengs ready, so, I theenk we're ready to leave tomorrow!"
"That's awesome, Gru!" Lucy celebrated, getting up from her seat and hugging her husband tightly. She was expecting to wait a whole week before leaving for the trip, not just one night. "I can't wait to tell the girls!"
"Woo! Me too!" Gru exclaimed, pulling out of the hug. He quickly scampered across the room and slammed his palm on the rhino button, making the elevator ascend out of the floor. "Yoo go upstairs to de gurl's room, and I'll go get Dru. Then, once we've met yoo up dere, we'll tell everyone at de same time."
Instead of responding with actual, sensical words, Lucy simply let out an excited squeal and hurtled out of the room at pace, just as Gru did the same in the elevator. The air of complete excitement was massively apparent, and the most energetic people in the house hadn't even found out yet.
Once they had done, things were sure to get loud...
The inside of the girl's bedroom was fairly quiet that night. Margo was sitting silently on her bomb bed, reading one of the many novels she adored, Edith was using the pink dumbbell she got for her birthday, Agnes was playing happily with some toys on the floor, and Jack was sitting deadly still in the corner, trying to keep his eyes open.
Eventually, when her arms were starting to sting and wobble uncomfortably, Edith put down the dumbbell and ran over to Jack, lightly kicking his leg to get his attention.
"Jack!" She yelled, startling the teen out of his half-awake state. "Look how big my arms are!"
Edith ecstatically rolled up her sleeve and tensed her bicep proudly, which, considering she was still quite young, and considering she was only lifting a kilogram weight, were fairly small. Jack chuckled and sat up completely, pretending to look absolutely shocked.
"Woah!" He giggled. "Those are massive! You gotta stop, cuz they're gonna get bigger than mine."
"No way! I'm never gonna stop!" Edith exclaimed, rolling down her sleeves again and shaking her head defensively. "I need big arms for when I join the AVL!"
"Ohhh, I see." Jack replied, grinning. "Well, since your arms are already pretty big, how about we start giving you some AVL training?"
Edith gasped in delight.
"Really!?" She exclaimed, smiling with pure glee.
"If you want to." Edith didn't need much time to nod her head rapidly in agreement. Battling his fatigued legs, the exhausted eighteen-year-old stood up and crossed his arms, his smile growing wider and more evil. "Okay, so, one thing you gotta get used to at the AVL, is being kidnapped."
"I'm already used to that." Edith said, shrugging nonchalantly, as if there was nothing wrong with what she just said. The very fact that a ten-year-old was now used to being kidnapped was obviously completely out of the ordinary.
But, let's be real, what isn't out of the ordinary in the Gru house?
"Okay, well, it won't hurt to get more used to it." He continued, rolling his eyes. "So...let's see how you deal with this."
Without a single shred of warning, Jack quickly kneeled down and lifted Edith over his shoulders, almost startling the living daylights out of her. Once she clocked what was happening, she immediately squirmed and giggled in his grasp, trying with all of her might to escape. But, although he wasn't holding her tight enough to actually hurt her, Jack's grip was just too strong, and she was struggling to fidget her way out.
"Come on, Edith." He sneered, chuckling proudly. "You'd be dead by now if this was real."
Starting to get a little frustrated, Edith huffed and turned to her two siblings, electing to switch from the squirming tactic.
"Margo! Agnes!" She called, making the two lift their heads and look up at her. "Help me out here."
By the time Jack had turned around to give them a 'I bet you won't beat me' look, Agnes was already on her feet and aiming a small nerf gun at him, which she hastily pulled the trigger of. A tiny rubber dart flew at speed towards Jack's head, and in an attempt to block it, he stepped back and used his free arm to protect his face.
However, what he hadn't noticed, was that Margo had used that time to sneak behind him and get down on all fours, and by the time he'd seen her, he was already toppling towards the ground. While he fell through the air, Edith leaped from Jack's much weaker grip and landed safely on her feet, as he tumbled comfortably into a pile of pillows stacked against the wall.
For a moment, the teen didn't even register that he'd just been shown up by three young girls, but when he looked back up at their conceited expressions, it finally clicked in his head.
"Hey! That's not fair!" He bellowed, sulking like a little boy. "You're not allowed to get help!"
"You didn't make that a rule." Margo jeered, grinning boastfully. "Therefore, it's allowed."
The three of them proceeded to high-five each other in victory, the youngest of whom seemed as ecstatic as ever. For a few seconds, Jack just looked a mix of angry and ashamed, but eventually, he realized something.
The fact that three little girls, one of whom was a whole twelve-years-younger than Jack, managed to outsmart someone with years of actual IVB and AVL training was actually pretty impressive. It just showed the kind of connection they'd built up over the years, and although he felt a little embarrassed to be defeated so easily, it actually made him smile a little.
Yes, it was just a little bit of playful fun, and yes, if he was an actual bad guy, being tripped up into a pile of pillows was never going to defeat him, but it was a very promising start.
When they got older, they were sure to be a formidable group.
At that moment, the door practically exploded open as Lucy came sprinting into the room with a wide and overly hysterical smile. However, upon realizing how suspicious her overzealous expression looked, she slowed herself down and pulled a calm expression to her face, pretending that the eccentric entrance never happened.
"Hey." She said, trying to act as casual as she possibly could. However, her attempts were proving unsuccessful, as her uncharacteristic nonchalance was looking more suspicious than ever.
After a moment of trying to hide her overflowing excitement, she concentrated on her three daughters, who were happily standing over a frowning Jack. By the look of total elation on their faces, Lucy couldn't help but smile a little with them.
"Having fun?"
"Hmm...tonnes of fun." Jack mumbled sarcastically, sinking further back into the pillows. It was getting harder and harder to stop himself from giving up and falling asleep as the seconds went by.
"Mom! Guess what!" Agnes cheered joyfully, as she dashed over to Lucy and latched onto her leg. "We won!"
"You did!?" Lucy chuckled, kneeling down and picking her up in her arms. "What did you win?"
"Edith was lifting her heavy pink thing and then she went over to Jack to show him her arms and then Jack told her to stop using it 'cuz they were getting really big and then Edith said about the AVL and then Jack kidnapped her and then I shot him with a gun and then he fell over and then WE WON!" Agnes explained, at a speed of which Lucy could barely interpret.
"Ohhhh." Lucy said, obviously only pretending to understand. "That's...that's brilliant, sweetie."
Agnes seemed satisfied with that reaction, and with a happy smile, she jumped back down to her feet and got back to playing an imaginary game with her toys. But, just as she delved back into her made-up universe, a realization came to her, and she looked back up at Lucy with a solemn expression.
"Do we have to go to bed now?"
"Well...yeah...in a few minutes." Lucy replied, struggling to contain the secret that was hanging from the tip of her tongue. She really couldn't wait for Gru and Dru to get up here, because she was unsure of how much longer she could hold it in.
"Can't we just stay up for a little bit longer?" Agnes requested, unleashing the dreaded puppy-dog eyes that almost always got her what she wanted. However, unbeknownst to her, they were never going to work on this occasion, not with the events of tomorrow morning looming around the corner.
"No, no, you've had long enough." Lucy said. "We don't want to be tired for school tomorrow, do we?"
"No..." Agnes mumbled, dropping her head in a sulk.
"Right, well, let's get you ch-"
However, before Lucy could finish, the door to the girl's bedroom opened up again, and she interrupted herself to confirm who was coming in. The moment that she spied Gru and Dru, she jumped to her feet and speedily dashed over to stand beside them, startling the two of them a little.
"So...what's goeeng on?" Dru asked, as he handed his brother a befuddled look. Not wanting to waste another second, Gru smiled and wrapped an arm around a bubbly Lucy, as the couple turned to the rest of the family with a cheerful expression.
"Well...uh...gurls, Dru, Jack...I have a leetle surprise." Gru started, smiling wide.
"A surprise!?" Edith questioned loudly. "What surprise!?"
"Is it a unicorn!?" Agnes spoke up, her eyes glowing brightly with hope.
"Pfft...what a lame surprise that would be." Edith rebuked, rolling her eyes.
"No, it wouldn't!" Agnes argued, crossing her arms angrily. "Unicorns are cool!"
"Nuh-uh! Unicorns suck! Unless it poops candy, I'm not interested!"
"Now, that would be cool!" Jack butted in.
"Ees eet a candy-pooping unicorn!?" Dru exclaimed at a blurred speed, giving Gru an overly intrigued questioning look.
"Well, eef yoo'd let me feenish, den I'll tell you!" Gru stated loudly, making everyone go quiet and look up at him with eyes full of anticipation. Taking a breath, the AVL director smiled and started the announcement that he'd been so excited to let out. "So...seence everytheeng has been kinda boreeng lately...and seence we haven't spent dat much time together as a family recently...I was theenkeeng dat...maybe...eet would be a good idea eef we-"
Unable to handle his very slow and dramatic reveal, Lucy leaped high into the air and finished his sentence with a voice full of cheer.
"GO ON A ROADTRIP!"
Immediately, a chorus of several delighted gasps arose into the air, as everyone in the room smiled with unbridled glee.
"A road trip!?" Agnes yelped.
"Woah...cool." Jack cooed.
"That's so awesome!" Edith cheered.
"EET'S GONNA BE SO MUCH FUNNNNN!" Dru yelled, as he ran over and picked up his brother in a tight and enthralled hug. "WE CAN SPEND ALL DAY WEETH EACH OTHER AND GO TO DE BEACH AND PLAY BOARD GAMES AND-"
"Yes, yes, eet's gonna be great!" Gru exclaimed, lightly pushing his energetic brother off of him. "Just...stop squeezeeng me so tight."
"So, when are we going?" Margo asked, seeming a mix of collected and jubilant.
"Well, seence yoo don't need to go to school tomorrow," Gru started, giving his eldest daughter a semi-serious frown. "And seence I've already got everytheeng ready...I guess, we can...go tomorrow!"
"YESSSSSSS!" Agnes screeched, running over and cuddling Gru and Lucy's legs. "I'M SO EXCITED!"
Like clockwork, the rest of the family gathered in for a joyful hug, each one of them displaying their own individual bright smile. Road trips can be one of the most fun things ever, especially when it's with your family.
"But dere ees only one small problem..." Gru began, as he dispersed the group hug and caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Yoo will need to pack your bags and get ready to leave tomorrow...
"...for 4am."
"What...?" Jack and Edith both mumbled with a dead tone, their faces dropping like a tonne of bricks.
Sincerely hope you enjoyed. Will try and post the next chapter ASAP, but again, it's been a difficult task getting through this. It's lucky that I love this family so much, otherwise it could've been a longer wait.
Also, I just wanted to give another thanks to the reviewers. I've received a tonne of really nice words and it's really helped push me to write more. It genuinely means a lot.