Aaaaannndddd, I took another two months to release a chapter. And after all those promises about updating more frequently...
I guess I gotta apologize again. I think this whole 'saying-sorry-for-taking-so-long' thing is becoming a running joke at this point.
This time, however, I do have a valid excuse. College started this September, and since I'm doing a new course with all this new stuff that I gotta learn, finding the time to write fics has been extremely difficult. What with that and the new twenty-one pilots album (which is amazing btw).
But recently, I've been dedicating the mornings before I leave for college to writing portions of this story, so that means that I will probably get a new chapter out every two to three weeks. But, knowing me…no promises.
Thanks to anyone who reviewed the last chapter! I do appreciate it! Hope this was worth the wait :)
Chapter Eight:
Siding With The Enemy
Nodding graciously at his associate, Perkins shut off the phone and moved it away from the supercomputer's speakers with a wide smile. He turned to face his hostage with a viciously malicious glare, and in return, the captured AVL agent was giving him one of absolute rage.
"So then, Gru…" He spoke, strutting back over to him leisurely. "Now that your wife and children completely hate you, you're free to return to the occupation that I know you love so dearly. Tell me, how does it feel to be finally released from the shackles of boredom and monotony?"
"Just great…" Gru murmured lowly. "Dis ees not goeeng to work, Perkins."
"Gru, come on, don't be cute. It already has worked. Whether you like it or not, that life that you so foolishly chose before is officially over. You're mine now…"
Gru couldn't ignore the disgusting sense of complete terror trickle down his spine. The gravity of this situation was finally starting to sink in. He had no weapons on him, so any possible way of escaping the chair had been thrown out the window. His family believed that he hated them, so they weren't coming to save him. The AVL would be none-the-wiser to his kidnapping, so he wasn't going to be rescued by them.
If all methods within his power were completely useless, then there was only one tactic left in the book…
He had to play along.
Now, as much as he hated him with every grain of his being, he knew that Perkins was very far from stupid. If he suddenly started going along with everything he said, then he knew he'd become suspicious. He still had to voice his discontent, but at the same time, go along with his orders as if he were completely out of ideas…
Well, he was completely out of ideas, so that part shouldn't be too difficult…
"Yoo know, Perkins…" Gru spoke, lowering his head a little with a look of complete indifference. "I have to admire your efforts. Dis situation really looks inescapable…"
Perkins narrowed his eyes a little in confusion.
"Pity dose efforts will be for notheeng."
"What?" The large man questioned, looking at his hostage with a much more venomous glare.
"Come on, Perkins, do yoo seriously theenk dis ees goeeng to work?" Gru sneered with a smirk. "I have been een situations dat were much more dangerous dan dis. I have had de fate of de whole world balanced on my shoulders, and I fixed everytheeng weethout even breakeeng a sweat. Yoo gotta understand, I will win. No matter what yoo do, no matter what yoo say, I will beat yoo."
Perkins frowned and approached Gru slowly, moving right up close and staring dead into the director's eyes.
"Do you forget who I am, Gru?" He muttered lowly. Gru's mocking smirk was growing larger as the seconds passed. "I am the man who runs the bank of evil! Do you know the kind of things I had to do to get up to that position? I mean, I crushed ants like you in my sleep."
"Sure, yoo deed. I'm not doubteeng dat…" Gru replied nonchalantly. "But…eventually, dose ants will find a way to fight back…and I do not theenk yoo will see eet comeeng when dey do."
"Look, I…you are…this is…!" Perkins stuttered, his cheeks turning a dark shade of red. Tired of his frustratingly wicked smile, the large man sighed and turned away, all while binding his fists together and avoiding the urge to just kill Gru right there. "God, now I remember why I hated you so much!"
Gru leered evilly. Phase one of 'playing along' was complete…
Lucy sat silently at the kitchen table, still staring forward with a blank gaze. She hadn't been able to look anywhere else on the entire ride home, since that whole over-the-phone conversation with Gru was still reverberating around her head, no matter how desperately hard she tried to forget it. How could she ever forget it? There wasn't a chance in hell that Gru's harsh words or his hateful tone of voice would ever leave her head.
She hadn't told anybody yet. Right now, she just couldn't. Could she ever repeat the words that he'd used? This day will probably end up haunting her until the end of time. If she ever found a way to push past it and comfortably talk about what happened, then she would consider that a miracle.
What about the girls as well? What did she tell them? Did she say that their father simply didn't love them enough to stay here?
That very thought made her stomach spin like a rollercoaster…
She could tell that Dru was giving her occasional dubious looks on the ride home, but in order to avoid breaking down while she was driving, she was pretty much forced to ignore him and try with all her will to pretend like nothing was wrong.
She even sent the girls straight to bed when they got in, even though she knew that they probably wouldn't fall asleep while their dad was missing. She still did it anyway, since if Margo was downstairs right now, Lucy probably would've spilled every detail by now.
That girl can read expressions like a book…
"Okay, so, Vector's ready for questioning…" Jack announced, as he and Dru walked into the kitchen. Lucy didn't even offer them a glance. "He's strapped against a chair in the lab. Whenever you're ready, we can go downstairs and interrogate the crap outta that guy."
"Mm-hmm…" Lucy mumbled quietly in response.
"Uhh, and…I've…I've told Dr. Nefario everytheeng." Dru added, desperately trying to grab a coherent response from the AVL agent. "He's setteeng up de phone signal scanner…uh…thingy as we speak. We should be able to find Gru een no time."
"Great…"
Jack and Dru turned to each other with a concerned look, the both of them worried about Lucy's uncharacteristic nonchalant attitude. It was especially questionable considering that they just gave her the news that they'd been waiting for all evening. Sighing, Dru strutted over and sat down directly opposite to his sister-in-law, where he leaned over the table and gave her a look of deep uneasiness.
"Lucy, what ees wrong?" She still refused to offer any eye-contact. "Eet ees totally unlike yoo to be so…so…so quiet!"
Lucy dropped her head even lower, still refusing to respond. Huffing solemnly, Dru reached out and cupped her hands in his, speaking with a voice as soft as a cloud.
"Look, I get dat yoo're worried about heem. I mean, we're all worried about heem. But…we both know dat Gru always finds a way out." He reassured. Lucy's lip began trembling. "All we have to do ees go downstairs, use dat scanner, find where he ees, and den rescue heem. We've done eet dozens of times before, and we can easily do eet again. Everytheeng always works out een de end!"
"Not…not this time, Dru…" Lucy mumbled timorously, raising her head a little to look at the blonde with tears in her eyes. She was so lost in panicked thought, that she didn't even register Dru's expression completely falling at the sight of her crying. "It's…it's over…"
"Wh…what are yoo-"
"I…Gru…he…" Every time that Lucy tried to let the words escape her voice box, her throat closed and her brain practically screamed. Confessing what Gru said over the phone was proving to be as difficult as processing them in the first place. Seconds of silence passed, and as they did so, Dru's frantic expression ascended that little bit higher.
"What, Lucy!? What is it?"
"Gru's…Gru's not coming back…"
"What do you mean? Of course, he will!" Jack exclaimed, dashing over to sit beside Dru. "Like Dru said, all we have to do is go downstairs and-"
"HE'S DIVORCING ME, OKAY!" Lucy screamed. "HE DOESN'T WANT TO BE WITH US ANYMORE! HE WANTS TO BE SOME...VILLAIN AGAIN!"
A very long and uncomfortable silence followed. All Jack and Dru could do, was stare at her in disbelief. That couldn't be true. That surely just...wasn't true. Right?
"What?"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Lucy's head immediately fell into the table, and right after, the flood of tears burst out like a tsunami. Frightened, Dru quickly shuffled across the booth sofa and put his arm around her, trying his absolute best to comfort away the tears.
"Gru's…divorcing you?" He spoke quietly, glancing at Jack in shock. The teenager didn't make eye contact. Instead, he was staring off into the distance with a blank gaze, as if this news had shut off his entire brain. "But…how do yoo know?"
"It…it…it wasn't a…a wrong number…" Lucy chocked, her rapid breaths interrupting her sentence periodically. "He…he called…and said that…that he wanted to be a villain again. And…and that we…we were making his life…a nightmare. And…and that he's…DIVORCING ME!"
Another huge cry escaped her as she let out the last two words. In an effort to steal away the bad feelings, Dru cradled her closer, trying super hard to be as soothing as possible. But, no matter how hard he tried, he was finding the whole comforting thing to be extremely difficult. He was already inexperienced with dealing with emotional or hysterical people, but with Lucy seemingly long past the point of consolable, this was a completely new uncomfortable territory.
The three sat in complete silence, bar for Lucy's wailing, for a good twenty seconds. As that time passed by, Dru felt the nerve inside his chest rise higher and higher, making his heart beat faster with it. He had to say something, but what? He couldn't think of anything. Usually, something really silly or completely unhelpful would pop in his head, but not even his most stupid of comments were coming to mind.
Thankfully, at this point, a concerned Margo and Edith popped their heads through the kitchen doorway, giving Dru an opportunity to steal away the uncomfortable silence behind the crying.
"Gurls!? Wh…what are yoo doeeng out of bed?"
"We…couldn't sleep," Edith replied, not taking her very troubled eyes away from Lucy. It didn't even look like the mother of three was registering her daughter's presence in the room. "And…we heard yelling."
"Mom? Why are you crying?" Margo questioned, obviously looking just as concerned as her little sister. Quickly turning her head to Dru and Jack, a very adult sense of responsibility washed over her expression, something that caught Dru a little off-guard. "What's happened?"
"N-nothing…everytheeng ees…uh…she ees just…we just got a leetle…um…"
Upon realizing that his stuttering was just worrying the two girls even more, the blonde turned to Jack, who still seemed incredibly distracted, and motioned his head with a distressed look. Taking a few seconds to understand the signal, the teen gave Lucy one last worried look, as if he was pleading her to exclaim that this was all just an unfunny joke, before standing up from the table and approaching the girls.
"Come on, you two. Let's get you back to bed."
"But we wanna know what's-"
"Now…" Jack interrupted through gritted teeth, giving them an unexpected demanding look. It was very uncharacteristic of him to be so stern with them. Jack was always the one who was on their side. He never usually told them what to do or bossed them around at all.
That was always Gru's job…
Silently, Margo and Edith gradually turned and followed their brother back into the hallway, but not before giving Lucy another worried glance across the room. She was still seemingly completely oblivious to their presence. She was just too busy burying her head further into Dru's shoulder…
"Jack? What's going on?" Margo asked, as the three began climbing the stairs back to their bedroom.
"Is mom okay?"
"Of...of course. She's fine, Edith." Jack replied soothingly. The two very doubtful looks he received came at him so quickly, that he was almost impressed. "Okay, look, she's just really…y'know, worried about your father. He has been gone for a really long time now…"
Margo came to a complete stop, and immediately after, so did Jack and Edith.
"Jack, you're really bad at lying, you know that…" She said, frowning and crossing her arms. "I can tell that something's happened! I'm not stupid!"
"Well, maybe for this one time, you could pretend to be!" Jack exclaimed, responding to her frown with an even larger one. "Margo, when you get older, you'll eventually realize that not every single thing is under your control! Sometimes, you've just gotta accept what you're told and be quiet! Now, stop trying to interfere and solve every single little problem, and just go to bed!"
For a few seconds, all Margo did was just stand there and stare at him darkly, hoping that she could use her frown to make him spill all the answers. But after a little while, when she realized that she seemingly wasn't getting anywhere, the twelve-year-old huffed and stormed off, making her way for her bedroom.
Once she was gone, Jack sighed and ran a hand down his face, having to forcefully ignore the guilt in his chest. It was proving to be a difficult task, but considering that he'd been ignoring it almost all day now, he was starting to get pretty accustomed to it.
"You know she's just gonna keep bugging you until she finds out right?" Edith said. Jack huffed.
"Yeah, I know, but…hopefully it won't be me who ends up telling her."
A few seconds of uncomfortable silence followed. Edith was a little less curious than Margo in these kinds of situations, being the type of person who would rather prolong the bad news instead of finding out straight away, but simply knowing that something bad had happened was enough to upset her in the same way.
"So, it's…really bad news, huh?" She asked, staring up at Jack with a very apprehensive look. The teen could only withstand a second of looking at her before the pain practically forced him to turn away.
"Look, Edith…" He spoke, sighing a little as he kneeled down to her level. "Everything's going to be fine. You know we always find a way out when something bad happens. That's just what we do!"
When the look on her face was still not improving, the teen dropped his head a little and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, giving her one of the most calming and reassuring looks he could produce.
"Edith, I swear on my life, with all of my heart, that I will get Gru back…I promise you."
It wasn't much, but finally, Edith's frightened expression seemed to dissipate a fraction, which Jack took as some sort of small victory. The ten-year-old reached out and wrapped her arms around her brother tight for a few seconds, before smiling at him a little and running off.
Jack watched her with a big warm smile on his face, but once she'd disappeared into her room, the reminder of what was happening hit him like a wrecking ball.
Gru was divorcing Lucy, and it was his fault. The girls were going to be without a father, and it was his fault. Everything in their lives was about to be flipped upside down, and it was HIS fault.
He had to find some way to rectify this. Some way that he could bring everything back to how it used to be.
But how?
Gru felt the cold air on his skin. He felt the dark, embroiling sense of fear trickle down his spine. It was difficult to ignore. It was like a ghost that was creeping around him, whispering words in his ear that he couldn't perceive. Even the fact that he was registering its existence was confusing him, considering that he couldn't even hear it.
He kept his eyes firmly closed, since the thought of opening them created a pit of terror in his stomach. What if he was trapped deep inside a dark mineshaft? Or what if he was floating around the depths of space, forever alone? Either of those could be true, how would he ever know? His memories had seemingly vanished out of thin air, so pondering how he even got into this predicament was practically impossible.
"Hello again, Felonious."
When that voice, that familiar voice, hit his eardrums, his eyes couldn't help but jerk open out of fear. Not just out of fear though, but also out of curiosity. He'd been questioning himself about this thing ever since he'd first laid eyes upon it, and the more he got to converse with it, the more he could hopefully understand.
Or, maybe, the more he got to converse with it, the more questions he would be forced to leave unanswered.
"I do say, with all this time we're spending together, Felonious…" The demon started, his bloodied smile growing viciously wider. "It's like we're back in the good old days, am I right?"
The first thing he noticed once his eyes were open, was the location he was in. Or maybe, the lack of a location that he was in. There was nothing surrounding him other than black, empty space. There wasn't even a floor beneath his feet, just…a never-ending void.
"I do not…I do not understand…" Gru spoke, pausing mid-sentence to gasp for breath. He didn't know why he was out of breath, he just…was, for some reason. "What are yoo? How do yoo know my name? What are de good old days? Please…please, I beg yoo…tell me what ees happeeneeng…"
"Oh, I'll tell you what's happening, Felonious." It replied, cocking its head sideways in possibly the creepiest way Gru had ever seen. "You're finally getting the chance that I've been waiting for since you deserted me! Your family is gone, they absolutely hate you, and you're trapped with a man who wants you to rejoin the thing we enjoyed so much together! Do not let this opportunity slip between your fingers. I've seen you do it before…with that wife and those girls…so do not let it happen again."
"I can't…eet ees not what I want…" Gru replied, dropping his head and taking in multiple breaths. "I want…to keep my family happy. I want…to save de world when it's in danger. I want…to be a good guy."
The demon cackled.
"You can lie to the others, Felonious, but you cannot lie to me." It said, floating towards him slowly. "I am all-knowing. I feed on the truth. And when you give me lies, bitter disgusting lies, I spit them out and punish those who fed them to me in the first place."
Gru lifted his head and gave the demon a pleading look, as it continued to approach him with a viciously terrifying look. When it finally got over to him, the horribly evil looking thing knelt down and stared into his eyes, almost frightening Gru to the point of unconsciousness.
"Don't make me punish you. Don't make me return to cause you all that pain again, the same way I returned two days ago."
"What? What are yoo…talkeeng about?" Gru questioned, choking on his own saliva. "I…I swear…I am not lyeeng. I am…perfectly happy weeth my life."
With unimaginable strength, the demon lifted Gru into the air by his throat and began strangling him, making the whole empty world vibrate and shudder just like an earthquake. He could feel a volcano of pure pain and terror consume him. It was a feeling compared to that of nothing he'd ever felt before. It was a lot more than just frightening.
It was practically crippling...
"Your daughter saved you the first time. That brute saved you the last time." It hissed, pulling the terrified man closer to its 'face'. "Who will save you this time?"
Gru closed his eyes and prepared to face his painful death, but just as he did so, another voice called loudly. A voice that sounded a lot more vivid and clear. It kept on saying something but, it was so quiet, that he could barely understand. Finally, when the voice seemingly got frustrated and started yelling, what it was saying became a lot more clear.
"GRU!"
"GRU!"
As Perkins shook him awake, Gru opened his eyes at speed and jerked forward, his breaths rolling out as fast as jet planes. Perkins was forced to take a step back to avoid being headbutted, something he almost didn't manage in time. He gave his captive a very strong aggressive look when he awoke fully, as he continued to sit there gasping for breath.
"Nice try with the headbutt there, Gru…" He muttered dangerously. "But you certainly underestimated my reaction speed."
"What…what happened?" Gru questioned quietly, putting his head down. Before he graced him with a response, Perkins simply handed him a very odd look.
"What do you mean 'what happened'? You were talking in your sleep, so I woke you up." He responded. "You were breathing pretty heavy too. Were you having a nightmare about that boring family that you almost spent the rest of your pathetic life with?"
"I don't…I don't even know what dat was." Gru said, closing his eyes and putting his head down. "Eet felt…like more dan just a…a nightmare. Eet was like…I…I was…een another world."
Now completely unsure on how to respond, Perkins simply stood there giving him a very befuddled look, totally at a loss for words. Finally, after a few seconds of confused gawking, the large man shook his head and walked away.
"You are a very strange man, Felonious Gru." He stated, as he approached Fullbyte, who was focused solely on pressing buttons on his huge supercomputer. "I just thought you should know that."
"Has the idiot finally shut up?" Fullbyte asked, not taking his eyes away from the twelve monitors in front of him.
"Not completely, but the gibberish yelling should subside now," Perkins replied, slumping down into the seat beside his associate. "Anyway, how's the mapping going on?"
"Fittingly well, I suppose." The elderly man answered, as he reached down and pulled an indeterminable device from inside his desk drawer. "I've located all the entrances and points of weakness, but I'm still mapping out all the surveillance cameras. There are a lot of them, by the way. It will take a lot of planning and thorough configuration before you should even think about breaching the perimeter."
"I don't think that is of too much concern." Perkins stated. "I mean, if everything goes wrong and the cameras pick up sight, it won't be us who'll be facing the consequences."
"Yes, but…doesn't that go against the final objective. I mean, if we're not going to take proper consideration of the cameras, then this whole kidnapping ordeal was entirely pointless."
"Okay, okay, fair point. Once you map them all out, we can start thinking of a good plan." Perkins submitted. Pulling a look of determination onto his face, the large man slowly spun his chair around and cast a look on Gru, who was still attempting to recapture his breath. "I guess if I want my revenge to be cruel, crueler than any other evil scheme ever conducted, then I guess we need to keep him safe…for now..."
Jack sighed as he entered the small interrogation room in the lab. It wasn't too extravagant, just a tiny room with a small table and chair, but it did the job sufficiently. He didn't even know the lab had an interrogation room until today, but considering that Gru used to be a villain, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.
Well, in light of recent news, 'used to be' probably isn't the correct phrase.
With an air of sorrow, he spun his head and cast a look at the tied-up Vector, who was staring dead at the teenager with a toxic glare. Jack didn't even have the optimism to smirk humorously at his pathetic intimidation methods.
"Don't even bother questioning me!" Vector snarled. "I don't care if you threaten me, or hurt me, or kill me, I am not going to-"
"I was wrong." Jack interrupted drearily, turning away a little. Vector gave him an odd look.
"What?"
"Turns out that Gru's disappearance is on his own back." The teen explained, his voice abnormally dull. "I guess…there isn't any need to question you…"
"Oh…okay then." Vector replied, dropping his head momentarily. He really wasn't expecting that response. Honestly, for the past hour, he had been mentally preparing himself for whatever verbal and physical abuse he was sure to receive. It looked like that preparation was all for nothing. Musing in thought for a few seconds, the villain raised his head with a mocking smile, and spoke with a triumphant tone. "So, I guess it's time to let me go, huh? Shame, since I was really looking forward to being interrogated."
Frowning darkly, Jack strutted up to his captive aggressively and loomed over him with a look of pure rage, frightening the smile right off the villain's face.
"Remember that I can still easily torture and kill you in the most painful way imaginable, so, if I was you, I'd probably refrain from sarcastic comments."
Vector swallowed hard. That form of intimidation reminded him a lot of his father. It had something to do with the way that he just suddenly transformed into something almost demonic within a fraction of a second…
"Oh, uh…did…did I sound sarcastic to you? I…I apologize. I didn't mean for it to…come across that way." He replied timidly. "What I…meant to say was…how about we stay and have a nice chat for a little while? I mean, I don't even know your name."
Unsure of his next move, Jack narrowed his eyes at him for a few seconds, weighing up his options. His choice between killing him or talking with him seemed pretty obvious, but once he realized the only other thing he could do in the house was sit upstairs and feel guilty, he sighed and slumped down on the chair.
"It's Jack. Jack Gru."
"Jack Gru, huh? So…you're adopted, I'm guessing."
"You could say that." Jack said, shrugging. God, how he wished he could reverse time. Then, this whole divorce issue wouldn't even exist. "Not formally adopted. Not even legally adopted. I'm…I'm actually Edith's biological brother."
"Really? That brat has a brother, huh? Interesting." Vector responded, his smirk slowly re-emerging again. However, Jack's quick threatening look swiftly destroyed that smirk before it could fully develop. "Uh…of course, I meant brat in a good way."
"Mm-hmm, sure you did." The teen replied cynically, turning his eyes back to the ceiling.
"So, how come you weren't around when she got adopted? Did you like…get separated or something?"
"Yeah, look…it's a really long story, I can't be bothered to go through it all." Jack replied, soothing his stressed-out temple. "Just know that I made a mistake, ended up working for the IVB, they tried to hurt her, I wouldn't let them, Gru saved my life, and now I'm here."
"Oh…I see." Vector responded, giving him a look of total confusion. "That…makes sense."
Another complete silence followed, the both of them unsure of what this 'nice chat' would even involve. Looking at the current situation they were both in, there really wasn't anything nice going on that could be discussed. Eventually, Jack huffed a little and asked him the first question that sprung to mind, just to kill the uncomfortable silence.
"So, what were you doing by that motel earli-?"
"Nothing." Vector retorted quickly, staring at the teen dead in the eyes. Caught a little off guard, Jack cocked his head and stared back at him with a dubious look, questioning him with his intense gaze. Sighing in defeat, the villain dropped his head and frowned, ceasing eye-contact with him. "Ugh, fine. My dad's pressuring me to get back into villainy, so…I was out there trying to find something evil to do."
"Hmm…okay," Jack mumbled, turning away a little in thought. "Wait, get back into villainy? So…you're a good guy now?"
"Pfft, no." Vector snorted aggressively. "Do I look like a pansy to you?"
Staying silent, Jack spent a few seconds looking his thin, scrawny figure up and down, before finally shaking his head and grinning slightly.
"No comment…"
Vector rolled his eyes and turned his head away, trying to find something in the room to stare at darkly. There was absolutely nothing except for undecorated walls colored in a dull grey. Although, it was a weird grey, as if some parts of the wall were less grey than others.
Eventually, he realized that the room was in fact painted white, and all that grey was just a thick layer of dust and dirt…
"So, if you aren't a good guy, then…what are you?" Jack asked, leaning back and getting comfortable in his horribly uncomfortable chair.
"Oh, well…I guess I'm…uhhh…" Vector mused, looking down at the floor in thought. It was a good question. What even was he? Possibly, he could be considered a bad guy, but with the lack of evil deeds and the fact that he was absolutely sick and tired of the whole villain stuff, that term just didn't sound right. "I…I don't know. I guess I'm just…a mix."
"A mix?"
"Yeah…like, I don't care about destroying the world, but…I also don't care about saving it. I guess you could say I'm just…neutral." Vector stated, shrugging. Jack dropped his head a little in thought. He'd never heard somebody refer to themselves as 'neutral' before. Up to this point, he thought everyone in the world was either bad or good. He really had no clue what to think. "Ugh…imagine if my father had heard me say that, he'd be so…"
Vector cut himself off and huffed, turning away from the young adult sorrowfully.
"He'd be so…what?"
"Don't worry about it, you wouldn't understand." Vector responded. "I mean, what would you know about dad issues?"
Jack's expression dropped in the same fashion that Vector's had, as he too turned away a little sadly.
"Well, uh…you'd be surprised."
"What? What do you mean?"
"My, um…biological dad wasn't the best." Jack answered, leaning forward again to rest his elbows on his knees. "He treated me like dirt for the first ten years of my life, and once he and his witch of a wife got bored of their jobs, he ditched me and Edith and left us to rot in orphanages. It wouldn't be a surprise if he specifically ensured that me and her were put in separate ones…"
"Woah…" Vector gawked, looking at the teenager in morbid surprise. "Your dad sounded pretty-"
"Evil?" Jack questioned, still not making eye contact with the villain. "Well, considering that last month he finally decided to return to try and steal Edith away and take her off to some random country, while also trying to destroy the entire US with nukes, then yeah, I'd say he is pretty evil."
"Woah, woah, slow down." Vector replied quickly, shaking his head. "Destroy the whole US? Somebody tried to destroy the whole country and I didn't know about it?"
"Nobody does. The AVL and the government is keeping the whole ordeal a secret. The president even got killed apparently…"
"Woah, seriously? How hasn't anyone noticed that the president's missing?"
"Well, I heard it was something to do with cloning or something. I dunno, who even cares anyway?"
A few seconds of silence passed after that, with Vector simply taking some time to process what the hell he was even told. But, eventually, when he accepted the fact that some guy almost destroyed the whole US without his knowledge, he put his head down a little and spoke.
"So…I guess you do know some stuff about dad issues."
Finally making eye-contact with him again, Jack looked back up at Vector with an almost lifeless look, as if that very confirmation hit him pretty hard.
"Unfortunately…" He replied, nodding. "But anyway, that's all in the past. He's dead and gone forever now, so…let's just move on."
"Whatever you say…" Vector responded, shrugging. "If it makes you feel any better, my dad really isn't any better. He only feigned his love for me when I was young, so that I would grow up and trust him. But now? Pfft…now he wouldn't even bat an eye-lid if he heard about my death."
"Well…if your dad doesn't care about you, then who rescued you from the moon?"
"Okay, fine…that was him. But he didn't do that because he cares about me! He only did that so that I would be alive to take over his stupid bank for him when he keels over. And that's not me saying that, that was a direct quote from him!"
"Alright, well…what's wrong with taking over his bank?"
"It sucks! It takes in no money, the color scheme is boring, and I'd have to spend all day talking to stupid villains, who think they're so great and evil and unique, and decide whether or not to give them money. Do you even understand how boring that is!?" Instead of responding, Jack looked at him as if he was some petulant little child whining about something insignificant. Vector took that as a cue to change the subject. "So, anyway, what's Gru like as a father? Because if it's anything like he was as a villain, it's a wonder you don't have even more dad issues."
"Oh…well, he's actually…really, really good. Like…the best." Jack replied, smiling to himself. "He treats the girls like they're one of a kind. He reads them bedtime stories, he plays games with them, he kisses their owwies, he tells them he loves them. He does everything you'd ever want a father to do. Plus, he…he took me in to his home, even though he didn't have to. And got me an awesome job, even though he didn't have to. And, most amazing of all, he took in my sister and gave her the life I never had at her age. I mean, honestly, I owe him my whole life!"
And yet, he said all those horrible things to him…
As a tsunami of guilt washed over him, Jack put his head down and stewed in his own thoughts for a moment. Was Gru really the type of husband to divorce his wife over the phone, over one silly argument? Was Gru really the type of father to abandon his daughters so suddenly, even though he'd gone through all that trouble to keep them safe and happy in the first place?
Was Gru really the type of person to just disappear, without even a goodbye?
'Something isn't right here…' He thought to himself. It just didn't make any sense. The argument they had wasn't even that huge. Yeah, it was pretty bad, but not anything like the argument they had on the day they'd met. He literally threatened to kill him then, so there really wasn't any comparison.
Or…was he simply just telling himself that something wasn't right, and that Gru wasn't that type of person, just so he could subside the guilt and feel a lot better?
Or, was he just overthinking this…
No. Gru was an amazing dad and husband. This whole situation just doesn't fit…
Looking back up at Vector, who was looking at him with an expression of total befuddlement, probably because he was just sitting there thinking to himself for a good thirty or forty seconds, Jack rose from his chair and loomed over him, staring down into the villain's eyes with the most determined face he'd ever seen.
"Alright Vector, here's the deal. I don't care if you truly haven't had anything to do with my dad's disappearance, and I don't care how unethical this whole kidnapping thing is if you actually haven't. I will only untie those ropes and set you free if you promise to help me track my dad down."
"What? You…you want me to help you save Gru, the man who put me on the moon and almost destroyed my whole life?" Vector questioned dubiously. Jack simply nodded. The villain's first thought was to reject and insult him for even thinking of such a proposition, but when he remembered that he was indeed tied up against a chair in the depths of some insanely huge lab, without a prayer of escaping on his own, he realized that going along with what he wanted was probably the better decision. "Alright, well…I guess we have a deal. Just…untie me and I'll help you out."
However, instead of untying the ropes and setting him free like Vector thought he would do, Jack leaned in closer and stared dead into his eyes with a look that could literally kill a man.
"And if you dare even think about hurting, or even touching, any of my family…I will make you regret every breath and step you've ever taken. You got that?"
Vector had to take a good five or six seconds before he could nod in response, simply because his brain was too afraid to even register the world for a little while.
"Good." Jack said, transitioning back to a smile in an unexpectedly quick amount of time. Once he'd untied the ropes around his hands and set him free, Vector stood up and stretched his muscles, since they'd gone extremely tight with all that sitting down on terrible chairs, before nodding to Jack graciously.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Jack replied, retaining a slightly apprehensive look. "Now, if you'll follow me, I'll take you back upstairs. Explaining to the others why I've let you go is gonna be…fun, to say the least."
Taking him out of the interrogation room and through the lab, Jack was getting pretty frustrated with the number of explanations he had to give to all the minions who expressed their concern about Vector. Yes, he knew this was a very big risk, he really didn't need to be reminded every other second.
Vector himself was also getting a little intimidated with all the vicious looks he was receiving from the little yellow things. Even though they were all tiny and looked as harmless as children, he was still pretty sure they could give him some decently big injuries if they all ganged up on him.
"Fine, Dave! If you're right and he ends up causing trouble, I'll get you all a million bananas!" Jack exclaimed, holding the bridge of his nose with frustration, a lot like Gru would do when he had a stupid conversation with one of the minions. It must've just been a habit he subconsciously picked up, since he could never remember holding the bridge of his nose before he'd met Gru… "Now, if you don't mind, me and this scrawny little wimp have some business to take care of."
"Es dove Gru?" Mark asked, as he and around ten other minions surrounded Jack and Vector.
"Never mind where Gru is!" He responded, watching as more and more minions surrounded them, most likely because Gru's name was mentioned. "Look, could you just…stop with the interrogating!? Don't you guys all have some like, jobs to do or something?"
"Nope. Abbiamo fatto tanan natong trabaho." Jerry responded with a wry smile, shrugging mockingly. However, in a case of instant karma, one of the minions fired an RPG that went flying right into several shelves of serums, vials, and equipment, sending a ton of liquid and debris all over the place. When all the minions turned to gawk, Jack took that as an opportunity to escape.
"Right, well, you do now." He exclaimed happily, before grabbing Vector's arm and dragging him away towards the elevator. "Come on, let's go before they accidentally kill us with a poisonous dart or something."
"Jeez, those things are annoying."
"Eh, they're not that bad once you get used to them." Jack replied, shrugging. However, looking down at the floor in thought, he very quickly came to a fault in his logic. "I'm…still not used to them…"
Just as the two were about to enter the elevator back to the house, Dr. Nefario turned the corner and noticed them, calling across the room just before they could leave.
"Jack! Could I have a word?"
"Can it wait? I'm...kinda busy, right now…"
"No. It cannot." Nefario stated demandingly, crossing his arms. "This is extremely urgent."
"Ugh, every single thing in the world with you is urgent." Jack mumbled under his breath. Right before he went off to have whatever pointless conversation Nefario wanted to partake in, Jack turned and gave Vector a very strong threatening look, catching the villain off guard somewhat. "Stay right there…"
Once the young adult had gone across the room and started conversing with the elderly doctor, Vector turned his head and inspected the elevator. It was right there. If he took it upstairs, sneaked out of the house, and ran over to the bank, he could tell his father and have that kidnapping teenager and his whole family killed.
But, knowing his luck over the past few days, his plan probably wouldn't work. Either Jack would find him and kill him, or his father wouldn't care about his kidnapping and he'd be scolded for still not catching Gru.
Speaking about Gru, what actually happened to him? Jack claimed that his disappearance was 'on his own back', or in other words, he'd decided to run away. Considering how determined Gru was in getting those girls back when he kidnapped them, that certainly didn't sound right…
Well, who cares anyway? This wasn't his main concern right now. Obviously, getting out of this house and away from this crazy teen was his main concern. He knew he couldn't escape using the elevator, since again, luck just hadn't been on his side recently and the risk was too high, so what could he use to escape?
And then, as if fate itself was gunning for him, his cell phone began vibrating ferociously in his pocket, reminding him that he still had the device on him. Having to contain his excitement, the villain carefully reached into his pocket and fished it out, before spying the caller ID on screen.
It was his dad. Calling about Gru, no doubt. How did he traverse this conversation? Did he tell him that Gru had run away and that his tracking device was broke, or did he act like he was still searching? Both options seemed pointless against his father.
Also, what did he say about this situation? Did he tell him he was kidnapped, did he act like he was fine? God, there were just too many options, and somehow, all of them seemed terrible.
Sighing quietly, Vector answered and put it up to his ear with some trepidation. He didn't know what he was going to say, nor how he was going to say it, but standing there staring at the screen as he tried to figure out the best option wasn't going to solve anything.
"Dad?" He whispered, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible, out of fear that Jack or one of the minions would hear him.
"Victor?" Perkins responded, clearly a little puzzled. "Why are you whispering? What's going on?"
"Look, I've been kidnapped by Gru's family, and one of his adopted teenage kids is acting pretty damn crazy." He explained. "I think he's gonna kill me, I really don't know. Do you think you could get someone to come save me?"
"You've been kidnapped, and you want me to come save you!?" Perkins exclaimed aggressively. "Are you really that simple-minded!?"
"What?"
"Now that you're in their house, this is the perfect opportunity for you to kidnap them." Perkins stated. "I've already got Gru, so all we need is his family, and then we're set to move forward."
"You…you've got Gru?" Vector responded sorrowfully. "You got somebody else to kidnap Gru?"
"Ugh, come on, Victor! You really thought I could put a single ounce of belief in you after you messed up the last time? You obviously don't have the skills!" Vector frowned darkly and balled his fists up, feeling the urge to crush the cell phone in his grip. "But…here's your chance to finally do something right in your life! If you can get me the family, then me and Fullbyte are ready to go through with the plan, and you would've actually helped out for once! So, there's your…ounce of belief."
"Wait…the plan? What plan?"
"Stop asking questions Victor and GET ME THAT FAMILY!" Perkins exclaimed deafeningly, making Vector inch the phone away to avoid damage to his ears. "And don't even THINK about disappointing me again, which you no doubt will do anyway!"
Without saying goodbye, or even wishing him good luck, Perkins hung up. For a moment, all Vector did was stare at the phone, unsure on what emotion he was feeling. Was it sadness? Was it anger? Was it determination? Maybe, it was all of the above.
But, though he may not know what he was feeling, he did know what he had to do.
He had to kidnap the kidnappers…
"Nefario, for the last time, we will have to use the phone signal scanner later!" Jack exclaimed, giving the old man a dark look of ire. "I currently have something very important to do!"
"It will only be operational for another half-hour before I have to reset it!" Nefario exclaimed. "It takes a very long time to reset the flipping thing, and I don't appreciate having to spend two hours pressing buttons while you sit upstairs reading comic books, or playing board games, or doing whatever it is you youngsters do nowadays!"
"Ugh, I'm done with this conversation now, old man!" Jack yelled, as he turned around and started walking away. "Just reset it, and we'll use it later!"
Scoffing, Nefario turned around and marched off towards the supercomputer room, mumbling insults and the occasional curse word under his breath. Jack walked back towards Vector and re-entered the elevator, before motioning for the young villain to follow him inside.
"Y'know, I doubt we'll be able to persuade Dru and Lucy that letting you go is a good idea," Jack said, as the doors closed. "But, I guess it's worth a shot."
"Yeah…" Vector replied, grinning a little. "I guess it is worth a shot…"
Again, sincerely hope you enjoyed. And again, I will try to be a little more consistent. It'll be difficult, but I definitely do not intend to abandon this story.
Any reviews are very much appreciated. See you soon…or maybe in another two months…I really don't know.