Down the Bloodline 3

by Swalker2000

The stress of the AVL director job has finally got to Gru, and in an attempt to regain his sanity, the father-of-four plans a road trip for his whole family. But, much to Gru's annoyance, a series of mind-frying events continues to grind at his sanity, with his family being forced to face the full brunt of it. It especially doesn't help when the past starts catching up with them...

11. It's A Lie

So, after a whole year since originally being published, we've finally made it to the penultimate chapter of this story. Make sure you're suitably comfortable and have plenty of time on your hands, cuz this one's FREAKING long! The longest Down The Bloodline chapter I've ever written, in fact! (which may explain why I took so long lol)

Just as I did before, I should warn that some scenes here get pretty intense. I mean, like, the most intense we've seen in this DTB. Still, I hope that adds to the enjoyment!

Yet again, thanks so much for the nice reviews on the previous installment! I sincerely hope this one doesn't disappoint :)

---

Chapter Eleven:
It's A Lie

Slowly, letting out a small exasperated groan as he did so, Gru regained consciousness. The last thing he could remember before everything went black was the fist of that Bandit guy being thundered into his head, for what must've been the millionth time in the past twenty-four hours. At this point, being knocked unconscious was becoming pretty cliché...

As his eyes gradually squeezed open, a million different thoughts and questions spun around his head at speed, and the only one he could answer was his location. He was sat against the wall of a small, poorly lit room, facing a rough looking elevator, which was plastered with the NASA logo. Around him, a few tables, computer monitors, printers, and a lone television acted as the furniture.

The feeling of ropes being pressed around his wrists and ankles made itself immediately apparent, and based on these facts alone, he could conclude that he was still being held hostage.

What did Perkins want with him? After a whole day of being trapped in ropes, he still wasn't any closer to figuring it out. He knew it had something to do with rejoining villainy, since the large man had been endlessly harping on about it since he'd woken up in that mansion, but he had an unshakable incline that something else was behind his kidnapping.

Why would Perkins ever care about him being a villain again? The bank owner always considered him to be one of the worst in the business anyway, so what did it matter? If there actually was something more to this whole kidnapping thing, which he was becoming more and more certain of as time went by, then he just hoped it didn't involve his family...

At this point, he couldn't deny how truly frightened he was. He had no clue what was going to happen next, and for that reason, he couldn't help but fear the worst. Before, when things looked completely hopeless, his wife's presence would always fill him back up with determination. Her spirit and attitude was all it took to pump him back up with the desire to kick some butt and save the day.

But, without her here, his fears and doubts were reigning supreme, leaving him unable to think straight.

The fact that his whole family most likely hated him didn't help either. However, though he sincerely wished that they didn't, he couldn't blame them, considering how he'd treated them at the end of the road trip. They didn't deserve to be yelled at, or to be needlessly frightened, or to be ditched at that motel. They were the only thing in his life that actually meant something, and now that they were gone, he was filled to the brim with regret.

How could he be so god-damn selfish? When the best family in the whole wide world were sitting right beside him, how could he ever complain about being bored with his life? Yes, his overly stressful job had been making him a bit loopy, but the fact that they were all there for him should've been enough to keep him sane. Why, that was the very thing he'd told Jack a month prior.

What kind of example was he setting for his daughters? That it's okay to go absolutely crazy and threaten those close to you? That it's fine to get up and ditch your children if you feel it benefits you more? God, they must be so afraid right now. With their own dad just running off and leaving them without an explanation, as if they meant absolutely nothing to him. No doubt, he felt totally disgusted with himself...

He was just thankful they didn't see what he did in the NASA HQ, otherwise, what would they think of him then?

Slumping to the dirty cold floor, Gru closed his eyes and just laid there, trying to imagine a better scenario than the one he was currently in. However, everytime he tried to conjure a world where him and his family were infinitely safe and happy, the reminder of the real world would suddenly strike him like a baseball bat.

When he felt the sting of tears at the back of his eyes, the bald man blinked to try and get rid of them, but as he did so, he finally caught sight of the window just to his left, and the view that sprawled out behind it.

A huge rocket stood there, lights blinking energetically across it, as if it was awaiting some form of signal. A large array of tiny windows lined the front and back, truly defining the magnificent size of its interior. As he sat there, watching the massive space vehicle intently, more questions came to the front of his mind.

What the hell was happening? Why on earth was he being held at the NASA headquarters? What was so special about this specific location? He needed to know, yet at the same time, dreaded the answer. To gather more information on his surroundings, he really wanted to move right over to the glass and inspect the environment more closely, but with the ropes around his ankles, there wasn't a chance he was going anywhere...

All he wanted was to know the truth, to know why he'd been kidnapped, to know why he was-

"Hello, Gru..." A dark voice muttered beside him. Startled, Gru flinched and turned to the source, where he was met by the looming forms of Perkins and Vector. They stood just in front of the closing elevator, grinning hazardously. Gru must've been so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't even hear them come in. "Did you have a good rest? No doubt you did, what with all that exercise you had earlier..."

"Let...me...go...Perkins." Gru mumbled dangerously, his voice cutting out from pure, unbridled rage. This whole being completely helpless while strapped against a chair situation was becoming both boring and predictable now. "I am seeck and tired of dis..."

"Yes, yes, very scary, Gru. I am shaking in my boots." Perkins commented, rolling his eyes as he strolled through the room, grinning to himself maliciously. Gru's anger boiled like a pot on the stove, threatening to spill out at any moment. "I've gotta admit, this has been a whole lot more fun than I anticipated. You're much less boring than I gave you credit for." Turning to the rocket ship out of the window, the malice upon Perkins's face grew ever stronger. "Pity it's all about to be over..."

Growling, Gru clenched his fists and glared at Perkins with pure venom, using his eyes like they were lasers. Throughout this small conversation, Vector had been watching the two closely, attempting to soak up this situation as much as he possibly could. Of course, he'd been waiting for this moment ever since he'd gotten off the moon, so he wasn't going to let it pass without a bit of fun...

"Long time no see, Felonious." Vector greeted venomously, giving the man a cold smirk as he slowly strolled towards him. Gru, whose gaze had been locked like glue on Perkins thus far, turned and stared the young man down demonically, the fire in his eyes not dying down in the slightest. "I bet you've missed-"

Cutting himself off, Vector finally noticed the collection of darkened bruises lining his skin, and the previous smirk that occupied his face was wiped in an instant. A few seemed to be turning a vicious shade of purple, while others seemed to be accompanied by small stains of drying blood, making him look like a total, disparaging mess. Unexpectedly, as he looked right into Gru's eyes, Vector's thoughts were instantly consumed by those three little girls.

How would they react if they saw their dad like this? If they reacted badly to the news of his divorce, then they were sure to be traumatized by the sight of Gru in a state of complete despair. Honestly, he looked close to death.

Vector was suddenly not enjoying this moment very much anymore...

With the young villain's sudden change of attitude, Gru's previous irate expression temporarily transformed to befuddlement. But, just as he was about to respond with some form of aggressive comment, Perkins turned back around and butted in.

"Shut up, Victor." The man stated demandingly, interrupting Vector's empathetic thoughts. "I don't have to time for your pathetic little revenge speech. I have a plan to explain."

Frowning poisonously, Vector followed the demand and crossed his arms in a sulk, before casting another intrigued look upon Gru. It seemed that Perkins's voice had made his anger return immediately, since the rage in his face was beyond measurable.

"What plan!?" Gru exclaimed. "Ees dis de 'please come and rejoin villainy' plan!? Because eef dat's de case, like I've told yoo already, I'm NOT interested!"

"Well, that's fortunate, then," Perkins retorted. "Because that wasn't the plan I was referring to..."

That prior fear returning, Gru's expression immediately fell downcast. To his dismay, it seemed his terrifying theory from earlier was being supplied with more and more evidence. Though he already knew deep-down that this rejoining villainy thing didn't make any sense, the closer he got to proving it's doubtful legitimacy, the more apprehensive he became...

"You see, Gru...us humans, we know quite a lot about this planet." Perkins began, turning his back to the AVL director. "We've explored pretty much every inch of it. As time goes on, once we've figured out a method of survival, our species will probably venture off to a new one. To find that much-needed variety in our lives. After all, we can't be stuck in the same place forever. It gets boring..."

Digesting that information, Gru turned his head away in thought for a few seconds, totally confused and frustrated. He was really hoping this confrontation would provide some more answers, not leave even more questions unattended...

At this point, having their total bewilderment in common, Gru and Vector subconsciously shared odd questioning looks. Although, after remembering the pure hatred that they held for each other, they both turned away and frowned darkly, pretending that moment never happened.

"Just...what de hell are yoo on about, Per-"

"I'm NOT finished!" Perkins interrupted, spinning around at a blurred speed and startling Gru and Vector to no end. The large man glared irately at the former villain for a few seconds, before instantly calming down and continuing the explanation, as if the outburst never even occurred. "So many planets in our solar system are completely unexplored, and all of us here on earth would just love to go out and adventure across them all. Unfortunately, our level of technology is our downfall. We just don't have the ability to take a human into space and send them to another planet safely yet. It's simply not possible..."

Still confused, Gru and Vector watched closely as the large man strolled across to a nearby table and picked up a small remote control, cradling it in his grasp as he spoke.

"But...I guess it's still worth a try..."

Grinning maliciously, Perkins slammed his thumb down onto the device, switching the aforementioned television on promptly.

What Gru and Vector saw on the screen made their jaws drop instantly...

Dru, Lucy, and Jack laid totally unconscious on the floor of a very futuristic looking room, filled to the brim with blinking lights and undescribable gadgets. Upon further inspection, based purely on the view outside of the circular window, it was very clear that they were inside that massive rocket ship...

Before Gru even had a chance to blurt out his exclamation of fear, Perkins pressed the button again, making the display transition to another room inside the rocket. This time, his girls were sat against the wall, consoling each other comfortingly out of fright. Nefario was also inside, pressing at random buttons on a large control panel at speed, clearly trying to find a way out.

It seemed he wasn't having much luck...

"What...how...how deed yoo..." Gru babbled relentlessly, panic overtaking him. As if it was some form of chemical reaction, the father-of-four quickly attempted to get to his feet and race out of the room in a hurry, completely forgetting the existence of the ropes around his ankles. Tripping and falling, he squirmed helplessly on the floor for a short while, continuing to exclaim yelps of total urgency. Perkins simply watched the scene with an entertained smirk. "I SWEAR to GOD, eef yoo even DARE try and hurt dem, I will-"

"Oh, QUIT with the threats, Felonious!" Perkins cut in, darting forward to loom ominously over his hostage. "You can't do a THING while you're tied up in those ropes, so DON'T even try!"

"Yoo underestimate me, Perkins!" Gru retorted. "Once I've found a way out of dese theengs, yoo're DEAD!"

Growling, Perkins reached down and grabbed the director around the neck, strangling him with uncomfortable strength. Slowly, he lifted him high into the air, all while staring deep into his fearful, desperate eyes.

"You're just lucky you're not dead yet. But, you see, I need you alive for this..." Perkins mumbled aggressively, his large teeth binding together. Gru wiggled and squirmed rapidly, attempting with all of his might to escape before he passed out, something he seemed to be having trouble with. Slightly lessening his grip, Perkins turned and walked slowly towards the television screen, pointing at the rocket with his other hand. "You're gonna watch as I send you're pathetic little family off high into space, just like you did to my son. And after that, once they've traveled off far into the depths of the universe..." Pausing midway through his sentence, the large muscled man grabbed the TV and threw it to the floor, smashing the screen and cutting off the feed of the three sisters. "I'll come back and sort YOU out..."

As his hostage growled and attempted to kick out at him, Perkins cackled and threw the AVL director across the room, sending him crashing into a nearby table. As a computer monitor and printer fell down hard onto his abdomen, Gru groaned in anguish and rolled around on the floor in pain, his brain battling hard to keep him conscious.

Chuckling evilly, Perkins turned around and pressed the button for the elevator, electing the sliding doors to open up. Walking inside and pressing the ground floor button, the bank owner spun and faced his son, ushering him forward.

"Come on, Victor." Vector, who was staring intently at both the smashed television and the pain-ridden form of Gru, jumped a little and turned to his father questioningly. "Let's get our revenge..."

Nodding slightly in response, Vector followed on and entered the elevator with his father, just as the doors slowly began to close. The last thing he saw before him and his dad started their descent, was Gru reaching his arm out towards the window, as if he was desperately attempting to save his wife, brother, and children from the rocket.

Vector was unsure what to feel at that moment...

---

Re-entering consciousness, Lucy groaned and gradually eased her eyes open, battling with the onslaught of pain surrounding her head, torso, and limbs. The ropes that were squeezing tight against her ankles and wrists definitely didn't help in subduing the pain either. For a moment, she didn't have a clue what on earth was going on, since her head was way too dizzy to think straight. But, once her senses slowly began returning, memories from not too long before did as well...

Vector's dad revealing himself. Gru being taken hostage somewhere. Some unknown guy throwing her hard into a television, knocking her out cold and leaving her completely defenseless...

Proceeding that, the realization of what was happening clicked in her head at lightning speed and the protocol of escape initiated at the same rate. Of course, this sort of situation had occurred dozens of times by now, so she was more than mentally equipped to deal with being kidnapped.

Scanning her gaze around her surroundings, the AVL agent quickly attempted to figure out her location, in order to begin planning an escape route sufficiently. But, upon spotting the inanimate forms of Dru and Jack adjacent to her, her attention was completely absorbed.

The moment she laid her eyes upon them, as if on cue, they slowly started to wake up, both carrying the same type of discomforting pain and puzzled expression that she woke up to as well. Unsurprisingly, just like her, they had been tied up with ropes, leaving them absolutely helpless when it came to moving.

"What...what's happeneeng?" Dru questioned, raising his head in an uncharacteristically listless fashion and meeting Lucy's gaze. Though the fear on his face at that point was already at an extreme level, once he noticed the bands trapping his limbs in place, his terror elevated that little bit higher. "Wh-wh-why are we tied up!?"

"My guess is that we've been kidnapped." Lucy replied simply, her frown darkening. Angrily, she put her head down, staring at the floor as if it was her mortal enemy. "Probably by that big, suited guy..."

Ire was running through her veins at the same pace that her blood was. At this point, she was absolutely sick and tired of feeling fear, sadness, and guilt. Now, all she wanted was to find and save her husband, get back home, and spend the rest of her life ensuring that this kind of situation never happened again.

Somehow, she thought, that was probably easier said than done...

"Where the hell even are we?" Jack inquired out loud, spinning his head around the large, confusing room. The number of multi-colored lights and small radar screens that stared back at him both impressed and terrified him at the same time. "I feel like I'm in some sort of Sci-Fi film or something..."

"Yeah, well, the less time we spend in here the better, I think," Lucy stated, her head still down, as if her thoughts were trapped somewhere else entirely. "So...how about we get the hell outta here?"

"But..." Dru began, sharing a perplexed look with Jack. "How? I mean, we're kinda tied up."

Lucy, who finally let out a genuine grin for the first time in hours, shuffled around for a moment before unveiling her untied arms, the ropes gliding freely down her wrists. Shocked, Dru and Jack looked between her and the bands in awe, the two of them clearly having the same question in their heads.

"Turns out that the AVL can teach you some pretty cool stuff." She commented, shrugging nonchalantly. Beaming, Dru squealed a little in a mix of relief and excitement, as Lucy leaned down and undid the ropes around her ankles. Meanwhile, Jack simply frowned, a sulk drawn boldly across his expression.

"That's not fair! I didn't get taught that..." He said, turning away in frustration. Grinning humorously, Lucy threw away the now untied ankle ropes and moved over to her son and brother-in-law, setting them free as well.

"Well, you've only been training for a month. Just wait 'til you've been doing it for twenty-years...then you'll probably learn."

Lucy turned to him and grinned mockingly, as Jack simply scowled and turned away, irritation evident across his features. Once she'd set the two free, the AVL agent wandered around the room, obviously attempting to decipher what this room even was. However, based purely on the onslaught of seemingly random coordinates and colors that littered the many screens on the control panels, she had absolutely no clue.

Following suit, Dru and Jack also strolled around the room, occasionally stopping to press at a button or inspect a screen. Eventually, Dru got to the circular window built into the wall, and with a small gasp, he analyzed the exterior intently. Once he noticed the huge thrusters standing right below their feet, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where they were...

"Oh my god!" He yelped loudly, attracting the intrigued gazes of Lucy and Jack. "Guys, take a look at dis!"

The two of them raced over and inspected the outside view in unison, their curious eyes widening in shock simultaneously once they made contact with the aforementioned thrusters.

They were in a rocket ship!? Perkins must have placed them inside after knocking them unconscious. But, why? What's the purpose of trapping them inside a rocket? Wouldn't it just be easier to trap them in an easily accessible room in the actual NASA building?

Unless, he was going to...

"Um..." Jack muttered, fear swiftly drawing itself across his face. He turned to his mother and uncle gradually, being met with two mirrored expressions of fright. "We should...probably find a way out."

Panic overtaking them, the three spun and dashed around the room at pace, attempting to locate an escape route. Obviously, their first instinct was to look for a door, but to their surprise, there wasn't a single one in sight. All the room contained was walls, tables, screens, and that one unopenable window. So, how did Perkins get them inside here?

Dru, who was audibly squealing to himself, was racing around helplessly, as if he was mentally praying that the method of escape would appear and politely present itself. Jack, who was having trouble controlling his anger, was going around throwing and punching things, hoping dearly that the extremely durable steel walls would break.

However, Lucy, who seemed deathly focused, was taking a slightly more proactive approach. Instead of unbridled fear or panic, logic was dominating her thought process, as she spun her head around analyzing every inch of the interior. If this room was truly inside a rocket ship, then surely it had to be a lot more technologically advanced than any other, less peculiar room. For that reason, maybe there actually was a door around here, but they just couldn't see it...

Locking onto the huge control panel, Lucy scampered over and scanned her gaze upon every single button, each one looming back at her with an array of long and confusing words. One button was going on about a 'hyperspeed thruster capacitor', and another was detailing a 'gigatransfuser converter'. But, the one that caught her eye the most, was the one that read 'hingeless wall divider'.

Sounded like a fancy word for 'pretty cool door' to her...

Smirking confidently, the AVL agent leaned over and slammed her palm upon the button, electing a small beep sound to blurt from the panel. Sure enough, the wall to her right whirred and opened up, acting exactly like a sliding door.

The instant the wall started to open, Dru's squealing and Jack's punching died down at speed, to be replaced with unsuspecting, yet relieving, confusion. They turned to Lucy and smiled thankfully, who met their gazes with an expression of content. But, upon remembering the situation and the possible threat of being sent far into the reaches of space, they were yet again overtaken with urgency.

Running at pace, the three darted through the 'hingeless wall divider' and quickly inspected their next location, hoping sincerely to find the escape. However, after being met by a hallway of around thirty other 'hingeless wall dividers', evidently presenting themselves with outlines you could only see from the outside, they couldn't hold back their deep sigh of dismay.

"Yep, of course..." Dru sulked out loud, rolling his eyes. "Just our luck."

"Well, come on, let's not just stand here!" Lucy yelled, sprinting away from them to begin the search. "We gotta find an escape!"

Following on, Dru and Jack joined in, and the next few minutes or so wasn't very fun for the trio. They ran from wall to wall, activating each and every 'hingeless wall divider' to inspect the rooms behind them, desperately attempting to find a way outside. Unfortunately, each one lead into another identical room to the last, all of which held the exact same control panel from before.

Eventually, only one door remained, and seeing that the others just held exact clones of the room they woke up in, the three didn't have high hopes. They grouped around the final room, giving each other very solemn looks, wishing dearly that this 'hingeless wall divider' would finally provide them with a way out.

"Well...here we are." Lucy remarked, her head falling downcast. "The final one. If this is just another control room, then we're pretty much doomed."

"What a mess..." Dru responded, pressing his hands firmly on his head, as if he was trying with all of his will to hold in a meltdown.

"Well, look, this could be a whole lot worse." Jack stated with a shrug. "At least the girls are safe at the house..."

Approaching and pressing the nearby button, the three watched as the wall slowly opened up and provided access to the final room. However, they certainly weren't expecting to see a trio of childlike gazes turn and stare back at them fearfully, instantly stunning the three of them...

"Oh, for god's sake..." Jack exclaimed, audibly sighing.

"GIRLS!"

"MOM!"

Not wasting a single moment, Lucy and her three daughters jumped up and sprinted into each other with a really tight hug, pure fear being the catalyst. For a few seconds, there was just silence, as they relished the embrace that they really needed at this moment. But, once their thoughts started kicking back in, that silence was abruptly broken.

"What's going on!?" Margo inquired, tearing away from her mother to look around in panic. "Like...I...has DAD kidnapped us!?"

"No, no...it isn't him..." Lucy replied, her voice a mere husk when compared to her earlier more focused tone. "Some bad people took him and then some stuff happened and...now it looks like we've all been kidnapped."

"Well, yeah, obviously!" Edith exclaimed, crossing her arms with a frown. "Some spikey-haired guy broke in and took us! And knocked out Dr. Nefario!"

The tomboy pointed across the room to the elderly scientist, who was still concentrating fully on pushing buttons on the control panel, clearly uninterested in consoling the girls. Lucy, who felt totally helpless now, sighed heavily and reached into her back pocket, taking out the paralysis serum she stole from Vector earlier in the living room.

"I can't believe I didn't stop that little brat earlier..." She spoke, staring at the vial with an intense gaze. Maybe she was going insane, but it felt like the object was glaring back and mocking her, reminding her continuously of her prior mistake back at the house. "Why did I have to be so stupid!?"

Angrily, she loosened her grip and allowed the serum to drop to the floor, awaiting the smashing sound as it struck the metal ground. However, instead of shattering, the glass vial instead bounced off the floor, rolling away a little.

Perplexed, Margo reached out and grabbed it, inspecting both the label and the contents intently. It must have come from Dr. Nefario's lab, since it had clearly been made using indestructible glass, something the scientist found useful when surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of minions...

That explained where Vector got it from.

"Mommy, where are we?" Agnes muttered quietly, looking up at her with a wide-eyed stare. The more Lucy looked into those frightened puppy-dog eyes, the more she wanted to rip that big guy's head off.

"Where astronauts live, sweetie..." She answered, putting an arm around the small girl to comfort her a little. It was proving to be of some help. "In a biggggg rocket-ship."

"And that's why we gotta get moving!" Jack exclaimed, as both him and Dru ran over to them with similar strides of trepidation. "Not just sitting around talking and wasting time!"

"What's even de point, Jack!?" Dru squealed angrily, turning to the teenager with an irate expression. "We've checked every single door een dis stupeed rocket! Dere ees no escape anywhere!"

"Well, we can't just give up!" Jack yelled back, holding out his arms defensively. "Otherwise, we're gonna get sent up into spac-"

However, before the teen could finish his sentence, the room started to shake violently, sending a few pieces of furniture toppling to the floor. Right after letting out a multitude of terrified screams, the family quickly gathered into a hug, preparing themselves for take-off. However, after a few frightening seconds, the shaking came to an unexpected stop, making the six of them open their eyes out of pure confusion.

"Are we dead?" Edith questioned aloud, her inquiry being completely genuine. Considering the sudden and abrupt halt, she was a little unsure.

"Sorry, that was me." Nefario apologized, holding his hands up in a guilty-like fashion. "For some reason, the 'open stair shaft' button makes the whole room shake."

For a moment, the family simply frowned and crossed their arms, chastising him internally for giving them such a scare. But, once she'd fully interpreted his response, Lucy's head rose up at speed.

"Wait...the WHAT button!?"

"Uh...'open stair shaft'. I thought I'd give it a press, but...it doesn't look like it does anything but give you a big 'ol scare."

Her eyes widening, Lucy stood up and sprinted over to the control panel, where she analyzed every button closely. Sure enough, the aforementioned button was right there, staring up at her like a diamond in a mineshaft. Turning to the rest of her family with a momentary gaze of hope, the AVL agent raced back out of the room again, and to her gleeful surprise, the floor at the end of the hallway had opened up to reveal a set of spiraling stairs.

A huge smile spreading across her face, Lucy sighed happily and turned back around, motioning her family forward through the divided wall.

"Come on, guys! Let's get outta this big metal dump!"

Sighing with relief, the rest of them jumped up and followed the redhead out of the room, making their way for the spiral stairs. As they began their descent into the floor, the whole family found themselves surrounded by a multitude of metal beams and multi-colored wires, as the stair shaft around them slowly got darker and darker.

Eventually, a small spot of light presented itself, and after another second or two, they all emerged into another hallway. However, this time, it was much smaller and only occupied by a single, oddly shaped metal door. Inside of it was a tiny glass window, and to their complete relief, the outside world was stretched out behind it.

As everyone else turned to each other with a hopeful smile, Jack ran over and quickly pressed the button beside it, waiting for the door to open up. However, instead of providing what they all desperately wanted, that being the open fresh air, a small red light began flashing periodically, accompanied by a robotic female voice.

"FOR SAFETY REASONS, THIS DOOR CAN ONLY BE OPENED FROM THE OUTSIDE. PLEASE CONTACT A MEMBER OF STAFF VIA THE CONTROL PANEL IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE THE SPACECRAFT. THANK YOU."

Staring at the button in disbelief for a few seconds, Jack hoped sincerely that he'd just misheard the robotic message. Surely they weren't this unlucky? Surely...something was wrong. Maybe this was just some form of safety precaution, and this message played simply to stop people accidentally leaving the rocket while it was in orbit...or something like that.

Glancing back at his family for a moment, who were giving him hopeful yet questioning looks, Jack felt a horrible feeling of doubt overtake him. This was the only escape on the whole rocket. It just had to work! Though he knew he was grasping at a theory that made little to no sense, he pressed the button again anyway, his heart-rate accelerating to the same frightened rate it was beating at earlier.

"FOR SAFETY REASONS, THIS DOOR CAN ONLY BE OPENED FROM THE OUTSIDE. PLEASE CONTACT A MEMBER OF-"

Angrily, the teen growled under his breath and slammed his hand on the button multiple times, threatening to break the small device.

"FOR SAFETY REAS...FOR SAFETY REAS...FOR SAF...FOR...FOR...FOR-"

Eventually, when he concluded that the message was going to just replay over and over no matter how many times he punched the button, Jack practically screamed with rage and slammed his fist on the door, hammering at the window aggressively. Unfortunately, it seemed that it had been made with a type of enforced glass, so no matter how much he stood there punching it, there wasn't a chance on earth it was going to break.

Finally, when the teen's fist was just about to crumble out of pain, he anguishly groaned, slumped up against the door and placed his hands upon his head, completely defeated. The whole family watched him do so apprehensively, unsure of what was happening and why the door was still closed.

"Jack?" Margo questioned, as she and her sisters approached him slowly. Hearing her voice, the teen elected to keep his head down, in order to hide the look of total uncertainty spread across his features. He hated facing defeat, especially when it concerned his and his family's life, but now, he was officially out of ideas. "Why...why is the door not open yet?"

After a few seconds, Jack finally lifted his head and looked at his sisters, and right after glancing momentarily at Lucy and Dru with a helpless look, confirmed their worst fear.

"We're stuck." He spoke, putting his head down again. "It's...it's locked."

"B-But...what if the rocket takes off!?" Edith questioned, holding her arms out irritatingly, as if the teen didn't realize the consequence of not escaping and needed to be informed. Holding back a few tears, the eighteen-year-old looked up at his little sister for a second, giving her a totally petrified expression, before turning to Lucy with the exact same look.

"Did the AVL teach you how to break down locked, impenetrable doors?" He asked. Lucy glanced at the door momentarily, inspecting the very thick layer of pure steel and titanium, before meeting the teen's gaze solemnly.

"It wasn't in the training manual..."

---

As the doors slowly opened, Perkins and Vector exited the elevator and strolled through an expansive hallway, one that was full to the brim of different doors and rooms. A few staircases stood either side of the long interior, leading up to yet another floor full of other rooms, other doors, and even an exit leading out to the expansive outside area, where the rockets and a few other buildings stood.

It was so big and confusing, that Vector couldn't help but feel just a little intimidated, simply because he was fearful of getting lost if something went wrong. What if the US army arrived and the two needed to leave at the risk of losing their lives? Chances are, he'd be left totally helpless in a huge perplexing building, with the route of escape being more difficult to solve than a Rubix cube.

For whatever reason, Vector felt like his dad wouldn't be of too much help in that situation, since as long as he was safe, then why on earth would he care about his son's well-being?

In contrast, Perkins didn't look at all concerned about the massive array of rooms, doors, and hallways. In fact, he was finding the route to his desired destination pretty easily, displaying truly how much research he'd conducted on this place. Vector had to question how long he'd been planning to go through with this kidnapping Gru and shooting his family into space scheme.

Eventually, the two reached a small grey door near the end of the hallway, which held a sign that read 'Control Rooms 4A-4Z'. Through that door was yet another much smaller hallway, one of which that twisted around at an odd angle, the walls lined with dozens of doors that lead to different control rooms. Perkins lead the way to a seemingly random one, however, judging on how concise this plan had been so far, Vector had a feeling that it had been specifically chosen.

Inside, a slightly smaller room with a few control panels, some pieces of furniture, and a large window surrounded the father and son. With an excited grin, Perkins moved over to a nearby chair and slumped down onto it contentedly, letting out a satisfied sigh. It seemed his plan was going to go through without a hitch. Every single thing was in place, and at this point, not even his useless son could mess things up.

Meanwhile, Vector wandered over to the large window at the end of the room at a slow pace, deciding to catch a look of the rocket. It was clear why his dad had chosen this room now, since the view from here was absolutely perfect for watching the take-off.

Vector watched as the rocket simply stood there magnificently, walkways and scaffolding surrounding it, looking prime and ready to fly high into the stars...

"So...uh...dad?" The young villain spoke, not taking his eyes off the huge space vehicle. "I've been meaning to ask, how are you gonna make that thing take off?"

"All taken care of, Victor." Perkins responded, shuffling around in the seat, attempting to get comfortable. At this point, Vector decided to turn around and face his father, his expression curled into one of discontent. "Fullbyte has full control over this entire base's computer system. All it takes is one phone call and that huge hunk of metal will leave this planet in no time."

"I...see." Vector replied simply, spinning back around to cast yet another look over the rocket. For whatever reason, it seemed to get taller and taller with every new glance. Maybe it's size was correlating with his level of fear.

He didn't know why, but ever since the reveal that Gru's family were now inside of it, he was feeling incredibly uncomfortable. He deduced that they were all probably fearful at the moment, and for some undeterminable reason, he found that fact a little upsetting. Prior to Jack's portrayal of actual human decency towards him, he probably would've found this situation as fun and exciting as his father was finding it...

Or...would he? Maybe, this entire time, he'd simply been tricking himself. Maybe he'd subconsciously feigned enjoyment and ruthlessness, in order to try and impress his already ashamed father.

Maybe...he didn't actually need to impress him anymore.

Realizing that he was probably overthinking this, Vector shook himself out of his thoughts and concentrated on the rocket again, continuing to analyze each and every detail. It looked a lot more dreary and miserable now, since the sky behind it had begun filling up with dark grey rain clouds, the only piece that had been missing from this already morbid puzzle.

"So...Gru's family are...really on there?"

"They sure are. Bandit went and snatched the rest of them." Perkins explained, spinning in his chair as he snatched intrigued looks upon the many control panels surrounding him. Though the words that labeled them were almost completely unreadable, the bank owner still found it immensely interesting. "He's really made this whole thing so much easier. I have to admit, it's really been strange having that thug on the team. I guess I'm just not used to working with someone who isn't completely useless..."

A frown quickly enveloping his features, Vector turned around at speed and shot his father a very darkened look, his fists tightly balling together. He was really getting sick and tired of being put down by Perkins. For whatever reason, his father's words were seeming more and more unbearable, as if a prior layer of obedient fear had been stripped from him.

He really didn't know how many more insults he could take...

"Well, I think it's time we have some fun now, don't you?" Perkins started, turning around to face his son, seeming completely oblivious to the death stare he was giving him. The large man fished into his pocket and took out his cellphone, which he immediately flipped open, something that made Vector subconsciously take a step forward out of pure fear. "Once we've set the rocket off, killed Gru, and got the hell outta here, you can come back to the bank with me. It's probably gonna take some time to teach you how to run it once I'm gone, considering how stupid you can be with that sorta thing."

Growing, Vector stormed over to his father at speed, and to the bank owner's almost cataclysmic shock, he slapped the phone out of his hand with a venomous strike, sending it to the floor at speed. The device clattered into pieces the second it hit the hard tiled floor, wires, and shards of metal being sent sprawling across the room.

Unable to respond for a few seconds, Perkins simply stood there, staring at the destroyed phone in absolute shock. Then, once his brain caught up and realized exactly what just happened, the bank owner slowly turned to Vector, whose whole face was red with rage, and spoke with almost a whisper.

"You...you just broke my phone..."

"You're DAMN right, I did!" Vector yelled, getting in his father's face, no inch of fear present in his expression. "I am so SICK of your stupid, little insults! Why can't you FOR ONCE just shut the hell up!? Is it so hard to treat me like A SON!? In fact, is it so hard to treat like a HUMAN BEING!? Not like some simple-minded insect that can't interpret FEELINGS! I mean, WHY CAN'T YOU FOR ONCE JUST BE MY DA-"

Vector was interrupted by Perkins's vice grip, as it curled around the young man's neck and sent him up into the air, cutting off his air supply instantly.

"Don't...you...EVER...speak to me like that." The man growled demonically, his teeth gritted together harshly. He rapidly started tightening his grip around Vector's neck, attempting with all of his will to suffocate his own son right then and there. Getting desperate, the young man started ferociously kicking, hoping somehow he could make his father let go. "You wanna know why I don't treat you like a son? Because, to me, you're just an inconvenience. All you ever do is waste away your pathetic little life, playing those stupid video games instead of learning how to become a VILLAIN! You're the most worthless lump of dirt to ever grace this planet. You mean absolutely NOTHING to me. I should've known that getting you involved in this plan was a bad idea. I should've known that you were just TOO INEPT to ever carry on with this villainy thing. I SHOULD'VE KNOWN THAT YOU WERE-"

Finally, as he used every morsel of strength that he had left, Vector sent a powerful kick right into Perkins's sensitive spot, making the large man drop to the floor in pain. As he barely managed to land onto his feet, Vector breathed in a very quick intake of oxygen, before spinning around and darting out of the room at pace. Growling with rage, Perkins gradually got to his feet and chased after him, jogging with a painful limp.

As Vector sprinted past the array of different control rooms and out into the huge hallway, making his way for the back exit, Bandit was coming from the opposite direction, watching him run away in confusion. A second later, Perkins emerged from the control room hallway with a devilish look of ire, quickly spinning to his spikey-haired associate the moment that he laid eyes on him.

"Quick, chase after him!" He stated demandingly, pointing towards his son as he tried to ignore the pain spreading around his private parts. "Snap that little urchin's neck!"

Grinning excitedly, Bandit quickly nodded and chased after the former villain without any need for explanation, just as Vector made his way up the stairs and onto the outside walkways...

---

The family sat against the wall inside the rocket's hallway, holding their heads down in defeat. Obviously frightened, Agnes had her head lulled against Lucy's side, searching intently for a source of comfort. Lucy was trying her hardest to provide that, but considering that she was having problems dealing with her own fear, it was proving to be quite a difficult task.

Dr. Nefario had spent a little while messing around with the locked door, trying to find some way to force it open or destroy it. However, judging on the fact that they were still all stuck inside the large rocket ship, the elderly scientist was obviously having a bit of trouble.

Meanwhile, the rest of them sat near each other in total silence, thoughts consumed by both terror and desperation. Though they knew escape was practically impossible at this point, that didn't stop them from wracking their minds at haste, different solutions to this situation popping in and out of their heads periodically.

Unfortunately, each one of those solutions involved magic spells or some other form of fictional force, so somehow, they deduced that those ideas probably wouldn't work right now...

Letting out a rough sigh, which was the first sound that had been made by anyone for the last five minutes, Margo turned and sent her older brother a frown, digging into him with her gaze as if it was some sort of laser.

"This is all your fault, Jack!" She stated harshly, her tone sounding entirely unforgiving. The eighteen-year-old turned to her for a moment with the exact same frown, ready to quickly fire back with a response. But, after realizing that he couldn't really refute her point, put his head back down silently in defeat. "If you hadn't yelled at dad or trusted Vector, we would all be safe right now!"

"Yes, Margo, thanks for the newsflash." He replied quietly, not turning away from his feet. His glare was both fierce with rage and clouded with sorrow, a concoction of an expression that made him look absolutely awful.

"I mean, why would you ever let Vector go!? That's probably the stupidest thing you've ever done!"

"It's called giving someone a chance..."

"But he's a bad guy! He does evil stuff, hence the name 'evil villain'! Why would you ever think that's a good idea!?"

"Because you all did the same for me!" Jack yelled, finally turning to face the twelve-year-old at speed, something that caught her a little off-guard. "Even though I had done a bunch of evil stuff when I was growing up, you still gave me a chance with a good life! In fact, you did the same for Gru as well! Just because you're born into a life of villainy, Margo, doesn't mean you automatically are a villain!"

Margo's frown finally started to ease away slightly, to be replaced with a look of intrigue. What he said kind of made sense to her, but at the same time, she had to question why Jack would suddenly start treating Vector with kindness, even though he was showing some very clear signs of actually being a villain.

He appeared right around when Gru completely vanished, he seemingly held little to no remorse for anyone, and he even tried to take out his handgun when initially seeing the family on that motel road. Based on all of that, why would Jack ever give him a chance?

Before Margo had the chance to interrogate him, it seemed that the teen had figured out the question through his sister's befuddled expression and answered it quickly.

"Look...Vector told me all this stuff when I was interrogating him. He said that his dad has been pressuring him into becoming a villain and that he doesn't really want to do it. He was talking about how disappointed his dad is with him because of how he turned out. It's clear that he hates his father a tonne and...it just reminded me of...well, me!" With a really disappointed sigh, the teen turned his head away solemnly and stared at the floor, a mix of anger and sadness enveloping his expression. "But...I guess I was wrong. He must've just been tricking me or something. It seems that Vector really is a bad guy..."

And then, to everyone's absolute and utter shock, the locked door suddenly beeped and opened, sending a strong waft of fresh air into the stuffy rocket hallway. The whole family quickly turned in surprise and squinted under the new source of light, which obstructed their vision for a few seconds.

But, once everyone's eyes had finally adjusted, the person who stood there in the open doorway also shocked them to an equal degree...

"Uh...hey." Vector greeted awkwardly, putting his hand up in a very small, short wave.

Her vicious frown being instantly reborn, Lucy stood up from the floor and dashed over to the young man, who panicked a little and stepped backward. He considered turning and sprinting away, but before he had the chance to fully decide, the AVL agent grabbed him by the collar and completely restricted his movement.

"You whiny, pathetic piece of..." She growled angrily, threatening to tear the fabric of his shirt with her ferocious grip. Vector felt the urge to cry or tear up in some fashion, total fright being the reason why. "Did your dad tell you to come down here and kill us!? Did he say to come and trick us into trusting you again!? Well, guess what, WE AIN'T FALLING FOR IT!?"

"No, no, I swear, I've come to rescue you!" Vector yelled pleadingly, putting his hands up in surrender as he felt Lucy's grip strengthen. She was giving him an exceedingly doubtful look, and based on the anger that was gradually building up in her eyes, Vector had to say something persuasive really quickly if he wanted to avoid being beaten to a pulp. "My dad's going insane and I...I got away from him and...and...your husband's upstairs in the building and...he's in a lot of trouble, and he...he REALLY needs your help!"

At the mention of her husband, Lucy's anger instantly faded, making her death grip on Vector's collar loosen tenfold. Clearly unsure of what to do, the AVL agent simply stared at him for a little while, thoughts and doubts spinning around her head like a blender.

She really didn't want to listen to this guy again, considering that he had already proved himself as untrustworthy. But, at the same time, she really wanted to save her husband, and this was the first time his location had been told to her for a long while. Even though something didn't exactly seem right to her, she had to question why on earth Vector would ever save them from the rocket and allow them to potentially escape, just to inform them that Gru needed help.

Unless he was actually trying to rescue them...

Undeniably petrified, Lucy let go of Vector and glared at him for a short while, unsure of what to say or do. Likewise, Vector glared back, though his expression was bundled with a lot of fear. It was odd, but something about the way she threatened him was extremely frightening, a form of fear he'd only really felt from his father...

Turning around, Lucy shot the rest of her family a small glance, displaying truly how doubtful she felt. In response, Margo gave her a 'please think about this' look, something that almost forced her to apprehend Vector again to appease her. But, she knew that was a bad idea, since Vector was the only one who knew where Gru was...

...and she needed to save her husband.

"Stay close to the girls." She instructed nervously, directing the command to Dru and Jack, who both nodded apprehensively in response. Turning back to the young man, Lucy motioned her head forward, ensuring to keep a very aggressive frown plastered to her face. "Come on then, pip-squeak, lead the way..."

Letting out a small relieved sigh, Vector nodded rapidly and spun around, making his way back outside. With the three adults keeping a very close eye on the small man, the rest of the family followed on behind, traversing over the high walkway and through the expansive NASA exterior.

"Woah, Jack, look at that rocket!" Edith exclaimed, grabbing her brother's hand and pointing across to another larger version of the aforementioned spacecraft, her expression brightening up a bit now that she'd gotten outside. "It's so big!"

"Edith, look, it is pretty cool and all, but..." Jack began tiredly, looking down at the ten-year-old girl with a listless look, instead of the rocket ship she seemed so invested in. "I'm really sick of rockets..."

In total silence, the family slowly made their way for the back entrance to the NASA main building, the interior being eerily quiet. There wasn't a single sign of human life anywhere on the premises, which was absolutely baffling, considering the circumstances. Surely, some form of backup should've arrived by now...

"We need to be really careful," Vector warned, his line of sight spinning around the whole area at speed. "I managed to get away from my dad, but I doubt he's gonna let me go that easily..."

Just as Lucy was going to question him about what actually happened with his father, a thuggish muscled brute jumped from behind a nearby pillar with a venomous frown, blocking the family from entering the building with his large, intimidating figure. They all gasped in shock and immediately stepped back, watching as the man's fiery expression grew even more deathly.

At that point, a sudden blast of thunder sounded in the sky, and shortly after, the rain started pouring heavily from the dark grey clouds above...

"Great...just on cue." Vector muttered, his voice quivering out of sudden fright.

Without the need to be told, the three sisters quickly hid behind Dru and Jack for some form of protection, as Bandit stared the eight of them down with a satisfied grin. Stepping towards them, the huge man thundered his fist into his palm, obviously itching to start the series of poundings.

However, the moment he started approaching, Lucy reacted almost instantly and kicked Bandit hard in his abdomen, making him jolt backward out of pain. It was clear he wasn't expecting it to actually hurt, but judging on the way he was struggling to stay upright, he had really underestimated her.

"Quick! Get the girls to safety!" Lucy called behind her, ensuring to keep her eyes locked on to her enemy. Dru and Jack didn't need to be told twice, and they quickly dragged the girls, Vector and Nefario past the temporarily disabled thug, leading them into the building.

"Come on, Nerfroid!" Dru commanded desperately, almost making the elderly man stumble to the floor as he dragged him by his arm. "We gotta go quick!"

"Steady, steady!" Nefario yelled, trying his hardest to keep up. "My legs aren't what they used to be!"

Just as Vector was about to enter the NASA building with the rest of the Gru family, he momentarily cast a look back at Lucy, who was obviously preparing herself for a fight. The AVL agent watched as the muscled man recovered and got to his feet, seeming beyond irate. She analyzed her opponent closely, attempting to decipher a solution to beat him, but as she lost herself in a small thought process, Bandit thundered forward at an unexpected speed and tackled Lucy to the ground.

As he laid on top of her, staring dead into her eyes with a hugely vicious glare, Lucy ferociously squirmed and pushed upwards, trying to get Bandit off of her. However, it seemed that it was her who had underestimated this time, since he was A LOT stronger than she'd originally thought. It was like having a wrestling match with a tank.

Letting out a vicious growl, the brute let go slightly and latched his arms around her neck hard, strangling her with a tonne of strength. As she desperately tried to breathe, Lucy could do nothing as Bandit lifted her into the air, making his way for the edge of the walkway, where the fatal drop over the edge was waiting for her...

"MOM!" Margo yelled at the top of her lungs, running forward in a mindless attempt to help. Reacting quickly, Jack leaped forward and grabbed his sister before she ran out into danger, as the twelve-year-old ferociously pushed back and tried to free herself.

"Margo, no, stop!"

"NO! NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE!"

Realizing what was about to happen, Dru quickly got down and covered Edith and Agnes's eyes, as those two were frozen in the spot out of total shock. He wracked his brain at speed, attempting to acquire some form of solution to this situation. But, there wasn't a chance he or Jack could get to Bandit to stop him now, since they were already inside and way too far away...

"HEY!" A young, mostly unthreatening voice yelled. Only a short distance away from the edge, Bandit come to a stop and turned around, glaring at Vector out of both confusion and unbridled rage. Not expecting him to actually look at him, Vector now fell silent, unsure of his next move. He needed to think of a solution quickly, but with that demonic like threatening look, his mind struggled to think straight.

However, as he noticed the litter of tattoos that lined his arms, the fact that half of his teeth were missing from his mouth, and the general, far away look he always seemed to possess, Vector realized that this guy was pretty unintelligent.

Surely, it wouldn't be too difficult to outsmart him...

"Look, I'm escaping!" Vector mocked, sprinting back down the walkway at speed. "I'm gonna get awayyyy!"

Growling under his breath, Bandit quickly spun his body and chased after him, letting go of and seemingly completely forgetting Lucy. Due to his massive leg muscles, the thug was easily catching up to the young man, and panic soon started rising in Vector's chest, unsure of what to do or how to escape.

Bandit was now so close to him that he had his arm extended out, in preparation to grab the former villain's neck and throw him off the edge, just as he was about to do to Lucy. To make matters worse, a right-angled turn in the walkway was fast approaching, and he was going to have to spin around at an impossible speed if he wanted to avoid being caught.

At this point, Vector was so incredibly frightened, that he never noticed the huge puddle that had built up on the floor of the already slippery walkway, and he couldn't stop himself before his legs gave out and he fell to the floor in a sprawling mess.

Thankfully though, Bandit couldn't react in time either, and the brute helplessly tripped over Vector's fallen body, sending him flying through the air and over the edge of the walkway at speed.

A deep, thunderous yell penetrated the air, but after a short while, it was abruptly cut out...

For a few seconds, Vector couldn't believe what had happened. Out of slight shock, he simply laid helpless on the floor for a little while, staring at the metal floor of the walkway in confusion. Had he just done that? Had he just managed to actually beat someone? Surely not. Surely, Bandit had survived that or had somehow stopped himself from falling over the edge. But, sure enough, as Vector spun his gaze around, Bandit was nowhere to be seen.

He would've looked over the edge to confirm his death, but he had never really been a fan of gore, even if his father found that trait shameful...

Leaving the building and running out onto the walkway, the family made their way over to Lucy, who was still laying painfully on the floor. Without hesitation, Dru quickly leaned down and shook her arm, obviously very fearful for her well-being. Considering how tight he'd been strangling her, it wouldn't be a shock if she was...

"Lucy! Lucy! Are yoo okay!?" He exclaimed, panic laced evidently in his voice. Fortunately, though, the AVL agent groaned and turned around, looking up at the rest of them with a pained look. However, once she spied the terrified faces of her precious little daughters, it didn't take long for her pain to lose its priority.

She quickly dragged the girls in for a hug, wrapping her arms tight around their small frames. They buried their heads into her shoulder instantly, absorbing the comfort they really needed, as a few tears fell from their eyes. There was simply silence for a little while, since that was all that was needed.

But, once it was confirmed that Lucy was definitely okay and still alive, that silence was broken...

"We thought you were gonna..." Margo's spoke quietly, her voice quickly trailing off. The pain in her voice hurt Lucy's heart to no end, something she wanted to soothe as soon as possible.

"Come on, don't you remember who I am?" She replied jokingly, separating the hug and giving the girls a wide smile, something that they couldn't help but reciprocate through their tears. "You know I always find a way out..."

"Well, on that topic..." Jack spoke, kneeling down to Lucy and the girl's level. As the four of them gave him an odd questioning look, the teen motioned his head down the walkway, directing their attention over to Vector.

The young man was walking back towards them with an apprehensive look, as if he was very nervous about something indeterminable. Once the whole family turned towards him, he came to a very quick stop, as if a spotlight had just shone down upon him at speed. He couldn't help but gulp and rub the back of his neck awkwardly, totally unsure of what to say or do.

Slowly, Lucy got back to her feet and made her way over to him, a smile plastered brightly across her face. Vector, feeling his heart-rate almost triple, turned his head away at speed and avoided eye-contact, his expression molded into one of shame.

"Look, I'm really really sorry that he came after us and I know I should've told you about him earlier but I didn't know that my dad had sent him to get us since I thought he would be too busy trying to find a way to set the rocke-"

"Thank you." Lucy interrupted, lightly grabbing Vector's arm. Stunned, the young man turned back to look at her, unsure if he'd just heard correctly. Once he spied the extremely grateful smile on the AVL agent's face, he was provided with confirmation.

"You're AWESOME, Vector!" Edith exclaimed, appearing from behind her mother and fist-pumping the air joyfully.

"Yeah, you're not a scary pajama-man anymore," Agnes added, also popping up from behind her. "You're a nice pajama-man now."

"Oh...uh..." Vector replied, pulling a look of confusion at first, before it was eventually replaced with a humorous smile. "Thanks."

"How did you even do that?" Jack questioned, as he and Dru walked over to stand beside Lucy, the both of them giving Vector an elated grin. "I mean, all you did was shout and he just looked...brainwashed!"

"Well, I knew my dad would've told him to go after me specifically," He explained. "And knowing how ridiculously stupid these hired thugs can be, I knew he would've only concerned himself with the order he was given. I thought maybe he would've completely forgotten about Lucy if I started getting away. Looks like I was...right."

"Nice job, Vectro!" Dru exclaimed at a high-decibel level, slapping his arm energetically. "Dat was some super smart theenkeeng!"

Though Dru's high-pitched crazy voice was very grating, since he was nowhere near used to it yet, Vector couldn't ignore the huge sense of pride and achievement that he was feeling. He couldn't remember the last time a group of people were looking at him with thankful, impressed smiles, and now that it was happening, he couldn't deny how much he loved it.

However, there was one person who still seemed apprehensive, and that was the eldest girl. She was stood well behind the rest of them, looking very uncomfortable and saddened. It was as if his presence was disturbing her, and because of that, Vector suddenly felt a lot more disappointed with himself again.

However, he didn't have very long to dwell on that, since the elderly scientist from that lab came over and handed them all a concerned expression.

"Well, I hate to interrupt...whatever this is," He stated impatiently. "But Gru could be in serious trouble! We gotta go find him right now, before that bank owner gets to him first."

"You're right." Lucy stated, her voice containing a lot less cheer than it had done before. Turning around, the AVL agent made her way back towards the NASA building, seeming a lot more focused and determined than she had before her husband's name was mentioned. "Come on, guys. Let's go save Gru."

The family followed behind her and headed through the back entrance, while Vector took a moment to think before doing the same. With his head down, the young man wandered down the metal walkway silently, staring at the floor with a downcast expression. The rain that poured down his back seemed to perfectly suit the shame he felt inside.

"Uh...Vector?" A small voice spoke up, sounding a little quiet and nervous. Vector lifted his head and spied Margo just in front of him, standing just inside the NASA building with her head down in a very similar fashion. For a moment, she didn't say anything, as if she was mentally preparing herself for something difficult. But, soon enough, she raised her head and spoke to him directly, that previous saddened look entirely gone. "Thanks."

After that, she quickly turned around and kept up with the rest of her family, who were now making their way down the stairs. On the other hand, Vector remained completely still on the walkway outside, seeming entirely oblivious to how soaking wet he was getting.

Now, as a warm smile spread across his face, the rain didn't seem to suit as perfectly as it had before...

---

The family trudged through the huge NASA hallway, everyone marveling at the sheer size of the interior. There were so many doors leading to new rooms, that counting them all could take a long, long while. They had to question why this building had to be so ridiculously huge. Why was there a need to have so many control rooms? How many things needed to be controlled?

But, judging on the fact that Gru was still technically missing and could be in a lot of danger right now, they really didn't have the time to question it.

"This is it." Vector stated, coming to an abrupt stop to point at one of the nearby elevators. There wasn't anything particularly special about this one, so why Perkins chose it to hold Gru in, he would never know. Maybe it being so random and inconspicuous worked in its favor. "Last I checked, this should take us to Gru."

"Let's hope that hasn't changed..." Lucy commented, glancing at the rest of her family fearfully, who returned the exact same expression. Though there was a glimmer of hope in the girls' eyes now, you definitely couldn't miss the frightened look that still dominated their faces. Until Gru was rescued and they were all back in the safety of their home, she had a feeling that that look wouldn't subside. "Right! Here's the plan. Me, Dru, Jack and Vector will go up and save Gru, and then find a way out later. Meanwhile, Nefario, you take the girls and try and find a way out now, so that they're safe. Everyone got that?"

"That's not fair!" Edith exclaimed, crossing her arms. "You guys always make us stay behind! We wanna come up and save dad!"

"Gurls, please don't do dis again." Dru muttered frustratingly, looking both worried and very fatigued. "We've explained a million times, eet's way too dangerous!"

"We don't care!" Margo stated demandingly. "We're not going anywhere until we've got dad back!"

"Girls, look at me." Lucy spoke soothingly, slowly kneeling down to their level. The girls shot their irritated expressions to their mother, who seemed anything but angry. Instead, she just looked sad. "I...I just almost lost you three forever...I really don't wanna risk losing you again." The girls' anger quickly died down at this, to be swapped out for the exact same sorrow that Lucy held. "Please...please...just go with Nefario and get somewhere safe. I don't want you to get hurt."

Letting out a small sigh, Margo glanced at her little sisters momentarily, giving them a solemn look, before turning back to Lucy and nodding understandingly.

"Alright..." She muttered, her voice very quiet. She was completely disappointed with being left out, but she was trying her hardest to hide it, since she realized that she was probably making this bad situation even worse with her sulking.

Breaking out into a relieved smile, Lucy leaned over and kissed the three girls individually on the head, before standing up and turning towards the elevator. Sighing, she motioned for the rest of them to follow her inside, but just as they were all about to enter, Jack hastily grabbed Vector's arm and gathered his attention.

"Wait!" He exclaimed, startling the former villain a little. "Before we go up, there's something I need to tell you first."

Vector looked at him with an expression of complete befuddlement, obviously not expecting this in the slightest.

"What?"

Before he continued, Jack momentarily turned away and glanced at the floor, sighing under his breath.

"Look, do you remember what I told you down in the lab? About how my dad tried to destroy the whole US with nukes and kill us all?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Well...it may come to no surprise, but...my dad scared me a lot." He explained, his head falling downcast, as if he was ashamed to admit this. Vector couldn't deny that the look on his face was pretty familiar. "Whenever I tried to stand up to him, he would somehow find a way to scare me again. To make me absolutely terrified of letting him down or going against him. And it took a lot of persuasion for me to understand that...I didn't need to be scared. That I didn't need his approval or respect. It was the only way I could actually...stand up to him in the end."

"Oooookay?" Vector replied, his face twisted in pure confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well...Vector...chances are, you're gonna have to stand up to your dad in a little while, just like I had done." Jack stated bluntly, looking dead into his eyes. "And before you do, you need to remember this."

Vector watched as Jack spoke with the most deadly serious tone he had ever heard him use before.

"Whatever he says to you, it's a lie. You're not a failure. You're not completely worthless. And you don't have to be whatever he says you are. What you did for Lucy earlier is possibly one of the most courageous things I've ever seen anyone do. You came up with a very smart solution that none of us would've ever figured out, no matter how hard we tried. I've gotta say, it's one of the most heroic things I've ever seen in my entire life. And when that man says anything degrading to you, I want you to remember that, do you understand?"

Though he heard the words perfectly fine, for whatever reason, Vector was unable to respond for a short while, leaving the huge room locked in an odd silence. He didn't know what to make of what Jack had just said, since never before in his life had someone said something that...encouraging. He felt happy, but for some reason, he didn't possess the ability to smile.

However, though what he was feeling right now was something he couldn't understand nor perceive, there was something that he was very, very certain of...

He was not going to fail.

"I understand." He replied, nodding his head in an almost commanding fashion. Smiling, Jack nodded back, as the four of them entered the elevator with mixed expressions of worry and determination.

"We'll see you in a bit, girls." Lucy called, as the doors began closing with a small 'ding' noise. The three sisters watched them disappear with a feeling of both dread and disappointment above their heads. "We love you!"

Once they'd gone, Nefario didn't waste any time and motioned down the huge hallway, treading forward in a grumpy fashion.

"Come on then, you three. Let's find a way outta this heckhole."

Silently, the girls followed behind begrudgingly, their heads all down in a miserable manner. The floor beneath their feet was so clean and shiny, that they could all see their saddened reflections in it, something they didn't particularly like looking at for too long.

Lifting her head back up, Margo glanced around the huge interior, looking for an easy method of escape. However, instead of finding an escape route, she found a door labeled with something that was equally as useful, and it very quickly ate up her attention.

"Wait!" She exclaimed, startling the rest of them somewhat. They all turned and watched as the twelve-year-old ran off towards one of the doors on the right, seeming very concentrated.

"Hey! Don't go running off! You're gonna get lost!" Nefario yelled in response, however, he made no attempt to catch up with her. Obviously intrigued with what her old sister was up to, Edith followed on behind with a sprint, and it didn't take long for Agnes to join in as well. "Ugh, please don't make this difficult! Your parents will kill me if you get hurt!"

Finally, Margo made it over to her desired door, and just to confirm, the older sister closely analyzed the sign on it. Sure enough, it read 'Power Control', with a 'High Voltage' sign placed just beneath it. Smiling contentedly, Margo turned back around to Nefario and her sisters, the latter of whom were right behind her, and gave them optimistic looks.

"What are you doing?" Edith questioned, switching her intrigued gaze between her and the door. "Why are you looking at a door?"

"Inside here is where all the power for this whole place gets controlled," The twelve-year-old explained, motioning her hand towards the aforementioned sign. "If we can turn it off, the rocket ship's can't be used, and Vector's dad won't be able to use them!"

"Why would he want to use them again?" Edith questioned, seeming very invested in what he sister was thinking. "Wouldn't it just be easier for him to...y'know...hurt them in here?"

"Well, it'll be a lot more difficult if the power is all off." Margo responded. "The light's will go off, he won't be able to contact anyone, and mom and dad can find a way to escape without him even being able to see them."

"Okay..." Edith replied, sharing a confused look with Agnes, who seemed happy enough pretending to know what was going on. "But...what about the elevator? If we turn off the power, it won't work anymore and mom and dad won't be able to leave."

With a hole in her plan being exposed, Margo put her head down in thought and wracked her brain hard, trying to figure out a solution. However, she didn't really need to, since the answer eventually waddled over to them with an aggressive frown.

"Don't run away like that!" Nefario chastised, his voice very rough and tired. "I've already had enough exercise today and I don't need to go around chasing three little girls!"

"Dr. Nefario!" Margo exclaimed commandingly, as if she didn't even hear the scientist's previous sentence. "In about five minutes, do you think you could turn off the power in here and then switch it back on after a little while?"

Perplexed, Nefario glanced at the 'Power Control' sign inquisitively, inspecting the door as if it were some form of machine, before looking back at the girl with a shrug.

"Yes...I can do that, but-"

"Great!" Margo ran forward at pace, signaling for her sisters to follow as she did so. "Come on, you guys!"

Sure enough, Edith and Agnes took a moment to share yet another puzzled glance, before racing away to keep up with their elder sister. As he watched them dash away at a pace he was never going to manage, Nefario looked absolutely defeated, as if these three girls were proving to be the biggest challenge he'd faced in a long while.

"Hey! What did I just say!?"

---

Lucy, Dru, Vector and Jack were completely silent as the elevator ascended, deciding to remain entirely concentrated on the task they were about to face. Three of them were well practiced with these sort of life-threatening situations at this point, and they knew that mindless chit-chat right now could be the thing that costs them their lives.

Of course, Vector wasn't too experienced with high-risk rescue missions, but with all of the determination running through his veins, he really didn't need to be.

After a short amount of time, the elevator let out another 'ding' and the doors opened up, allowing them to gather a view of the room in front of them. Not wanting to waste a single second, the group of four leaped out into the room, scanning their gazes across everything.

Eventually, Lucy caught sight of the disgruntled Gru, as he laid totally inanimate on the floor beside the window, facing away from her. The fear that jolted through her heart almost gave her a coronary.

"GRU!"

She worryingly sprinted over at speed, totally frightened by the fact that he didn't respond. What if they were too late? What if Perkins was one step ahead of them and killed him before they had the chance to rescue him? What if this whole thing had been for absolutely nothing?

When she finally made it over to him, the AVL agent grabbed her husband's arm and swiftly spun him around, hoping that he was still alive. Thankfully, those blue eyes stared right back at him, looking absolutely fatigued and terrified. He was desperately trying to say something to her, but every word he tried to use was completely muffled.

Fortunately for her, the reason he hadn't been responding, was because his mouth had been taped, not because he was...

"Wait..." Vector spoke worryingly, as he and the others quickly followed on and appeared from behind Lucy. "You didn't have tape on your mouth earlier..."

"You really thought it was that easy?" A dark voice muttered, startling the four of them half-to-death. They spun around to find the source, and to their dismay, Perkins emerged from behind a desk, his expression curled up into a venomous grin. As if it was planned, another blast of thunder could be heard outside, and the pelt of the rain against the window added to this already dark situation tenfold. "You really thought you could beat me with just a simple kick to the crotch? Victor, I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you were completely mindless."

Swallowing hard, Vector ignored the insulting comment and stepped towards him, trying to erase all forms of fear from his brain.

"Give it up, dad!" He stated defiantly, lifting his head up, as if he was trying to make himself look bigger. "It's five against one! You can't win!"

"Hmm, incorrect again, Victor." Perkins responded, cackling to himself. "You see, it's five against two, now."

"What...what are you-"

"You REALLY thought that my mobile phone was the only way to contact Fullbyte!?" Perkins exclaimed, moving a little closer to them. "My god, you just get stupider by the day! We're at NASA, Victor! There are plenty of telephones around here! It only took me about five minutes to get in contact with him!"

"Well...so what!?" Vector responded. "As you can see, I've already rescued them from the rocket, so what is Fullbyte gonna do!?"

"A lot of things..." Perkins replied, grinning and chuckling in a demonic-like fashion yet again. "As I said a few days ago, he's a legend in the villain world. So, it won't be too difficult for him to overload the jet fuel of the rocket ship and make it explode in a huge fiery mushroom cloud, killing all of us in an instant."

"What!?" Vector roared, turning to his new associates in horror, who stared back at him with an equally petrified expression. "But...you're gonna kill yourself as well!"

"If it means I can finally get rid of Gru and save villainy before it's collapse...then so be it." He stated fearlessly, as if death didn't bother him in the slightest. "Besides, since you won't be taking over my bank, it's doomed to fail anyway. What else do I have if I don't have that?"

Feeling the pain in his heart rise, Vector lowered his head and balled his fists together, feeling the vague presence of tears behind his eyes. He really couldn't take this any longer. The constant lack of love and care. The continuous insults and degrading comments. As Jack said, he was worth more than this.

If he was about to die, then this was his last opportunity to say these words...

"You had...a son." Vector stated lowly, his teeth gritted together. "You had someone...who was your own. You were the one...who was meant to love me. If you didn't want to do that...then WHY did you have a son!? WHY!? What was the purpose of giving birth to me, if you were just gonna HATE ME!?"

"BELIEF, VICTOR!" Perkins exclaimed, staring his down harder than he had ever done before. "I just wanted to BELIEVE that you could become the son I wanted! But, no! I could tell from the beginning that you were just some pansy, pathetic, goody-two-shoes like the rest of these AVL idiots! For a while, you looked like you had SOME form of evil within you. When you kidnapped Gru's daughters and took the moon for yourself, I thought my doubts of the evil inside you were all false! But ever since you came back from the moon, you pretty much confirmed them! You...Victor...are not a villain!"

Turning to Jack for a moment, who was glaring at Perkins with that IVB-exclusive death look, Vector remained silent for a few seconds, evaluating his possible response options. But eventually, when the words that teen had told him earlier came back into his head, his reply came quickly.

"You're DAMN right, I'm not!" He stated confidently, smiling. Perkins, not expecting that response in the slightest, twisted his face in disgust, looking like he'd just witnessed something beyond disturbing. "I guess I'm...a good guy! How does that feel, huh!? To know that your own son is a good guy!"

"Ugh, you...you know what, I don't care!" Perkins exclaimed, strutting over to a nearby desk and picking up the telephone. "Once I've given Fullbyte the signal, this whole place is gonna BLOW!"

Just as the four of them were about to leap forward and stop him, the whole room suddenly went completely dark, the only trace of light being the very faint clouded source coming from the windows. With them, all of the computers inside the room shut off as well, quickly proving what had happened...

"Not without power it isn't!" Margo exclaimed, as she and her two sisters stood just in front of the elevator doors, smiling. Again, somehow, no-one had heard them come in, possibly because they were too consumed with the possibility of death by explosion to hear anything around them.

"Girls!?" Lucy exclaimed from within the darkness. "I thought I told you to escape!"

Perkins, who was squinting in the very tame lighting, finally saw the three girls, and as the rage inside him built up, the feeling to go insane and kill everyone himself was dominating every inch of his thoughts.

"What's the matter, huge TV guy?" Edith mocked, putting her hand on her hips teasingly. "Weren't expecting to be beaten by children!?"

"Why you little brat..." Perkins growled, dashing towards her angrily. However, after giving her little sister a quick signaling nod, the ten-year-old sprinted away, using a level of pace that would never have been expected from someone so young.

"Edith!?" Jack exclaimed irately, incredibly panicked by his little sister being in danger, especially when he was completely blinded by darkness. "Don't antagonize him! He's gonna hurt you!"

However, if he could actually see them, then he would realize truly how wrong he was. The three sisters, without taking any heed of their brother's warning, quickly moved into different positions, as if this entire scenario had been thought out long before...

Agnes ran forward at a fairly impressive speed and dashed through Perkins's legs, causing the man to lose his footing. If he could actually see, then Agnes might've been in danger, but considering that Perkins was now totally blind, he couldn't steady himself and fell to the floor hard.

Realizing that it was her turn to act, Margo now dashed forward and reached into her pocket, revealing the 'Paralysis Serum' she'd taken from Lucy earlier. With her young eyes, seeing in this low-level lighting was extremely easy, and she found Perkins's floored form within moments.

Undoing the cap, the twelve-year-old poured the serum into the bank owner's mouth, as it instantly took effect and paralyzed him...

For a few seconds, there was just silence inside the blinding darkness, with everyone a little unsure of what exactly was happening. But, after a short while, the power in the building came back on, and the ceiling lights allowed everyone to spy Perkins's completely inanimate body.

Gru, Dru, Lucy, Jack, and Vector all stared down at him in total shock, unsure of what to say or do. For a moment, they thought that they'd just receieved some holy miracle, and some divine being came in and stopped Perkins before he hurt them. But, eventually, the actual answer came to them, and they couldn't help but find that as equally shocking as a miracle.

"Did...did you girls just-" Lucy started, but, her stunned sentence was very quickly interrupted.

"YES! WE ROCK!" Edith cheered, as she and her sisters banded together and did a little dance, giggling the entire time.

"We won! We won! We won!" Agnes sang, as they danced around in a circle happily, as if were victorious in a simple playground game.

Still totally flabbergasted, the rest of the family turned to each other, completely speechless. Though it was frightening to think that the girls were just locked in a battle with a vicious bank owner who would've had no qualms in killing all three of them, the fact that they'd come out victorious was extremely impressive.

However, after getting over her complete bout of shock, Lucy turned back to her husband and leaned down, grabbing the tape around his mouth. Speedily, she pulled and ripped it from his face, giving him the freedom to actually talk again.

However, the second he went to open his mouth, nothing came out. When he looked into his wife's eyes, the same wife he yelled at so ferociously at the end of the roadtrip, the same wife he inadvertently divorced, all he could feel was an overtaking sense of guilt. He didn't know what to say, nor did he know if Lucy actually wanted to hear it.

Though it would break his heart beyond repair, he would understand if she didn't forgive him...

However, all of those thoughts were very quickly interrupted, when Lucy leaned down and pressed her lips firmly against Gru's, reminding him exactly what he'd been missing. He only wished he could caress her and pull her in closer, but with his arms still tied around his back, there wasn't much of a chance of that happening.

When they finally broke apart, Lucy stared sadly into Gru's eyes, looking like she was about to cry. Gru hated the sight of her sadness, and every fibre of his being told him to say the most comforting words he could create. However, the female AVL agent beat him to the punch.

"I'm so sorry we've been such a terrible family, Gru." She spoke, her voice cracking up. At this, Dru, Jack and the girls also came to surround them, the teenager moving over to undo the bands around his hands and legs. "I'm so sorry we stressed you out so much. We didn't see how much you...hated your life and...we should've done something to help you."

"Yeah, I...I'm really, really sorry, Gru." Jack added, joining in as he continued undoing the ropes. "I'm sorry I punched that kid in the hotel and got us all kicked out. And I'm sorry that I gave Edith coffee on purpose just to annoy you. And I'm really, really sorry for...saying all those things in the van. It was totally uncool, especially with how stressed out you've been lately, and I should've known better."

"I'm sorry too, brother." Dru continued, leaning down to look into Gru's eyes. "I'm sorry I'm so loud and annoyeeng. I'm sorry I cause so much trouble and complain all the time. And I'm really sorry for not being of any help on dat road treep. I'm such a stupeed idiot."

"I'm sorry for being really loud and silly, daddy." Agnes spoke, clutching onto her father's arm. "I'll be quiet from now on."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry for being annoying all the time and throwing up on the beach." Edith added, doing the exact same. "And for being garbage at maths."

"And I'm sorry for punching that boy in school and getting suspended." Margo stated, being the final sister to cuddle into Gru.

"We've all been really dumb, and..." Lucy said, her voice still wavering solemnly. "And from now, we're all gonna change. We're gonna be the best family we possibly ca-"

"Right, stop right dere!" Gru interrupted loudly once Jack had freed him from the rope prison, startling them all. Leaning forward, he grabbed Lucy's hand in his own and cradled it softly, trying to soothe any bad thoughts before they overstayed their welcome. "All of yoo, stop apologizing. Yoo are not a terrible family. Yoo do not stress me out! I love every seengle one of yoo so much, to de bottom of my heart and...I...I don't want any of yoo to change one bit. Eef yoo want me to be happy, den stay exactly how yoo are."

"Then...why did you get so angry at us?" Lucy questioned, tears finally starting to build up in her eyes.

"I...I don't know, honey..." He replied, thinking back to the multiple mental breakdowns and hallucinations he has been having over the past few days. "But I know eet eesn't yoo. Yoo are de absolute best theeng een my life, and I...I'm gonna figure out what's wrong weeth me...for your guys sake."

Smiling with relief, the family wrapped their arms around each other, hugging close to finally kill every remaining bad feeling of fear, sadness, and guilt. They stayed completely silent as they held each other, the want to simply confirm everyone's safety overtaking their want to speak. Eventually, they naturally separated, all giving each other satisfied smiles, the first completely genuine ones they possessed for some time.

"Nice job with Perkeens, gurls." Gru said, pointing over to the motionless form of the bank owner. "I couldn't have done any better myself."

"Yeah, I knew you guys would become a formidable group." Jack commented, grinning at his three sisters contentedly. They all beamed back up at him, but after realizing how long it had been since they'd had a bit of fun, turned his grin into one of mischief. "I just...wasn't expecting you to actually beat a bad guy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Edith teased, crossing her arms playfully, her two sisters soon joining in. "I bet we could beat more bad guys than you ever could!"

"Pfft...you girls can't even climb a mountain without being on my shoulders." Jack replied with a small chuckle, also crossing his arms in retaliation.

"Well, at least we can ride a rollercoaster without throwing up." Margo retorted, putting her hands on her hips. Before Jack had the chance to respond through his chuckling, Agnes jumped in and beat him to it.

"Yeah! You were all like, 'bleecccchhhh'." Agnes exclaimed happily, as she pretended to hurl all over the floor. At this point, the whole family were now laughing joyfully, simply just enjoying this fantastic moment.

With all of them being back together again, Perkins and Bandit being defeated, and no threat of anyone being sent into space via a rocket ship, it seemed everything was solved.

Well, apart for one thing...

As his laughter started to die down, Jack caught a glance of Vector in the corner of his eye, who was silently staring down at his father with a totally depressed expression. The teen, remembering how it felt to have no family or loved ones to enjoy life with, was suddenly hit by a strong mixture of empathy and guilt. Before he had a chance to go over and console him, Gru interrupted him with a darkened voice of anger, his expression mirroring that perfectly.

"So, what's dat leetle punk doeeng here?" He questioned irately, keeping his gaze locked onto Vector poisonously. At the sound of his enemy's voice, Vector slowly turned around and gave him a semi-serious frown, one that somehow looked a mixture of both hatred and friendliness.

"Well, that little punk saved all of our lives." Lucy stated, getting a little defensive for him, simply because of how grateful she truly felt for what he did. "So, how about we don't start punching him?"

"Hmm, well, he avoided dat world of pain last time," Gru stated angrily, approaching the young man slowly. "Let's see eef he can avoid eet dis time."

"Woah, woah, Gru, don't!" Jack exclaimed, jumping in front of his dad to stop him. Shocked, Gru gave the teen a questioning yet frustrated look, totally unsure as to why he would stop him attacking a man who had previously kidnapped the girls. "Remember that time in the lab where I went absolutely insane and attacked you, but you still kept faith in me?"

With that reminder, Gru felt a little uncomfortable, considering that day was one of the strangest mixes of emotions he'd ever been through.

"Yeah?"

"Well, let's just pretend Vector is me for a little while, okay."

"What!?" Gru exclaimed, looking at Jack as if he had gone absolutely insane. "But yoo're totally different! He's a bad guy! Yoo were just a good guy being brainwashed eento doeeng bad stuff!"

"Dad, he isn't a bad guy!" Margo stated, going over to stand beside her father. Casting a small glance at her older brother, the eldest sister continued, ignoring her dad's dismayed expression. "He was just a good guy born into a bad life."

"Yoo...yoo can't be serious." Gru responded, his mouth falling agape. "Tell me yoo're not being serious!?"

"Nah, dad, he's cool!" Edith added in, as her and Agnes moved over to join the conversation. "You should've seen him kick that spiky-haired guy's butt!"

"Yeah, I like him." Agnes spoke, turning to Vector with a wide toothy smile, something the young man couldn't but reciprocate. "He's nice."

Switching his totally stunned expression between the girls, Vector, Jack, Dru, his wife, and his brother, Gru didn't have a clue on how to respond. This surely couldn't be happening. His arch-nemesis, who had kidnapped his girls over a year ago, was now being defended by his own family. He was having an internal conflict of emotions. Did he ignore his family and beat him up anyway? Did he abide by their wishes?

Eventually, when he caught a glance of Agnes's famous puppy-dog, adorable, manipulation expression, Gru knew what he had to do.

"Ugh, fine..." He sighed, looking over at Vector angrily, as the girls cheered happily. "I guess yoo've avoided de world of pain again. Eef Jack says yoo're really like heem den, I guess I can pretend yoo're heem for a leetle while."

"Does...does this mean I can call you dad?" Vector questioned sarcastically, grinning a little.

"Don't push eet."

---

Wow...okay...this chapter is way too long. I considered splitting it up into two different ones, but I didn't want to leave anyone on a painful cliffhanger. If you've actually just sat here and read through this entire 16,000-word chapter, then congratulations, you get the FREAKING AWESOME award. You also get to join the FREAKING AWESOME club, where we talk about how FREAKING AWESOME you are.

Seriously though, if you actually care enough about this story to stick with it like this, then I appreciate it so much. I honestly love writing, and I wish I could post more frequently, but it's impossible at the moment, not with all the other life stuff going on.

We have one more chapter to go, and then DTB 3 is officially over. It's kinda sad to think that, but hey, it's definitely not my last DM fan fiction, so...ah well.

If you enjoyed this and you did choose to review, thank you A LOT! Whether it's praise or criticism, I love to read reviews!

Will be seeing you ASAP!